


Sunshine, Gentle Breeze, You & I

by kazu2606



Category: Red Velvet (K-pop Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Summer Camp, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-28
Updated: 2018-09-28
Packaged: 2019-07-18 14:38:09
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 21,503
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16120559
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kazu2606/pseuds/kazu2606
Summary: the summer Seulgi met her.





	1. Orientation

Seulgi sat herself down at a table in a corner of a cafe after she had ordered and pulled out her phone to check the time. It was still early, she had ample time to kill. Setting the phone on the table, she looked around and decided to people watch for a bit while waiting for her coffee and sandwich. She was briefly pulled from her thoughts when the waiter came over with her order. Thanking him, she picked up her phone again to take a shot to update her social media account. She tapped on the share button after she got a satisfactory shot and scrolled down for a bit, stopping when she saw a photo taken against a familiar background.

She’d recognise that place anywhere - summer camp - the place where she spent most of her summers running around when she was growing up. Seulgi smiled at the memories of camp that she recalled fondly from time to time. All those hours spent on the beach learning how to kayak, hours spent in the woods jungle trekking and learning how to tie knots. Most children would rather spend their holidays at home, resting or playing video games, but not Seulgi. She preferred to be outside.

\---

There was one year that she was particularly fond of, the summer when she was 16. She had signed up for camp with a few of her friends. Seulgi had been successful in persuading them to come along with her for once after only having heard her retelling stories from camp. They were enthusiastic enough about spending two weeks away from civilisation and while there were some initial complains about having to go without their phones and internet for the duration of the camp, Seulgi was proud to say that her friends had enjoyed themselves thoroughly and went back with her in the subsequent summers.

The first day of camp was usually a mild chaos with at least one or two younger participants crying as they reluctantly parted with their family. Seulgi took pity on them but they would soon get over it, they almost always did whenever camp activities started. After their parents had dropped them off, Seulgi led her friends to the registration counter outside the huge gymnasium where they would be assigned to their teams, or watches as they were called there. 

Participants were split into watches that typically consisted of about ten people. Each watch was led by an instructor and a course assistant, or CA, as it was commonly abbreviated. The watch would be their family for two weeks and they would learn how to look after each other whenever they are out on expeditions.

“Seulgi, you’re back! I was beginning to wonder if you would show up this year.” The staff at the registration counter greeted Seulgi with a bright smile. “And I see that you brought friends with you this time.”

“Hi, Yoona. It’s great to be back.” Seulgi gave a little bow and set her things down, gesturing to her friends to do the same. “These are my friends, they’re new here. Those two Satan-look alikes are Joy and Yerim, Joy is the taller one.” 

“Yah!” 

“And this here,” Seulgi put an arm around the smaller girl next to her and gave her a shake. “Is my best friend, Seungwan.”

Seungwan gave Yoona a little bow.

“Welcome to Camp Gemini. I’m Yoona, as you can see here on my name tag.” she pointed to the tag that read ‘IM YOONA’ and guffawed.  “Let’s see which watch you guys are in and then you can take a seat at one of the tables inside the gym hall.”

***

As they entered the building, they spotted at least six tables in place with several seats occupied at each of them. Seungwan looked around and pointed to a table with their watch name labelled and they hauled their luggage over and took a seat on one side of the still empty long table. Five other girls came to join them at their table a little while later. They gave one another little nods of acknowledgement before settling their things down and took their respective seats.

“Alright team, welcome to The K2.” A woman Seulgi had seen before during previous camps greeted them once everybody had arrived and Yoona trailed behind her, meaning registration had been closed. “I’m Taeyeon and I’ll be your instructor for the next two weeks. This is my assistant, Yoona, which you guys met during registration. She will be helping me terrorise the nine of you. Now, I need you to briefly introduce yourselves so let’s start with you and we’ll go around.” Taeyeon pointed to Seulgi who was on her right. She nodded and stood up to begin.

Seulgi’s attention shifted from one girl to the next as they went around the table during introductions. They were all about the same age, there were two cheeky looking girls who seem like they would get along swimmingly with the Satan twins, Hyejin and Wheein, another pair who were seemingly touchy with each other, Yongsun and Byul, and then there was her and her friends. Seulgi’s attention fell on the last girl who sat across from her.

“Hello. I’m Irene Bae, also 16 years old.” She started and suddenly the air shifted. “I’m not much of an outdoorsy or the most adventurous person but I do love camping a lot. I will try my best in the coming weeks.” 

Seulgi looked at Irene in a bit of an awe. For one so small and timid looking, Irene had commanded their attention with ease and it had surprised even their instructor and CA. 

“Looks like we have a natural born leader here.” Taeyeon commented off-handedly before turning her attention back to her participants. “First things first. I need all of you to surrender any electronic devices over to us for save keeping during the course of this camp. It’s standard procedure because we want all of you to be fully focused on the activities and to live in the moment. Please hand everything over except your cameras. That you may keep with you but it’ll be at your own risk so please take care of it well. Any form of food and reading materials need to be handed in, too.”

Taeyeon nodded at Yoona and she placed a small wooden box and some labelling stickers with some pens in the middle of the table. Everybody at the table looked at each other hesitantly before Seulgi coolly got up to retrieve one of the pens and stickers and sat back down. She fished out her phone from her pocket and turned it off before turning it over to place the sticker on the device, effectively labelling it as hers. She then deposited it into the box and nudged her friends to do the same. 

Once all their devices were safely locked in the box, Yoona disappeared out the hall with it while Taeyeon led them to their dorm. Seulgi looked around and saw that other watches were already on the move as well. They walked down the stoop outside the gym hall and onto a road that led to the foot of a small hill, passing by a small field along the way. 

Groans could be heard as they begin their ascend to their designated dorms. Their dorms came in the form of wooden chalets that sat on the side of the hill overlooking the beach and unfortunately, were only accessible by stairs. Seulgi groaned too because their watch was The K2, the second tallest peak in the world, which meant that their dorm was the second highest on the hill and it would be one heck of a climb for sure. 

“How..much..further, Taeyeon?” Hyejin asked in between gasps, her leg muscles burning from the climb.

“You can do it, kid. We’re almost halfway.”

“Only halfway?!” Joy, who was right behind Taeyeon, stopped all together causing the entire watch to stop to take a much needed breather. “There’s not way I’m going to make it all the way up there carrying these bags.” 

Almost everybody nodded.

“You’ll get used to it in a couple of days, Joy. Don’t be dramatic.” Seulgi nudged her to move, not wanting to waste everybody’s time because there was another watch behind them. “I was in Everest a couple of years back. Now  _ that  _ was a challenge.”

“Thank god we’re not in Everest then.” Joy rolled her eyes but got moving.

“Atta girl, Joy! Now let’s go team!” Taeyeon turned around and resumed their little climb. “Oh by the way, there’s a water station right over there so you guys don’t have to go all the way down to the mess hall to get water.” She pointed to a little shed that sat by the trail.

***

Taeyeon had given them some time to settle down in their dorm before they had to return to the hall for an ice breaking session and a tour of the camp’s grounds. The dorm were filled with a cupboards and sturdy, wooden bunk beds. Seulgi looked around for any unoccupied lower bunks but it seemed like she was a tad bit too slow, so she had to settle with the upper bunk. There were a few upper bunks left to choose from but Seulgi settled with the one nearest to the balcony door, at least it would be a bit breezier in case the weather was too hot at night.

Setting her backpack down with a thud, she heard a small squeak. Seulgi turned towards the lower bunk and saw that her bunkmate was looking at her accusingly.

“You scared me.” 

“I’m sorry. Irene, right? Is it okay if I take the upper bunk?”

“Sure, go ahead. You’re Seulgi, right? The one who has been here before, like a million times?”

Seulgi turned around and saw Yerim and Joy snickering at the side and sighed, wondering when did they even get the chance to talk to Irene about her.

“Not really a million times, but close enough. Need a hand?”

Irene was putting on the bed sheets for her bed but Seulgi was asking out of basic courtesy, her bunkmate had everything under control.

“I’m good. Do you need help? How does one change the bed sheets on the upper bunk?”

Irene got up from the bed and surveyed the upper bunk together with Seulgi who apparently had never been on top before. They stared at each other for a while before Seulgi decided to call for reinforcement.

“Joy, can you give me a hand?”

“You short people can’t live without me.”

***

Ice breaking was more often than not an awkward affair during camp, but not that summer. Everyone was a good sport and it was a good laugh whenever they matched the wrong name to the wrong person. They were having a hard time telling Seulgi and Irene apart because they practically looked like twins, something nobody had realised until they were standing side by side during the ice breaking session. Seungwan, Joy and Yerim had no problems since they had already known Seulgi most of their lives but their four new friends, their instructor included, had a tough time.

“Wait, did those two switch places?” Seulgi watched as Wheein asked Hyejin while frowning, pointing back and forth between the two of them as they stood in a circle.

“No, they didn’t..I think? Yoong, did they switch places?” Taeyeon nudged Yoona and the latter stuck her tongue out at their instructor.

“I’m not telling!”

“Seulgi’s the one in the white t-shirt, guys!” Byul snapped her fingers at her realisation and finger gunned Seulgi who returned it.

“Yeah, for today. We can’t rely on her white t-shirt forever, Byul.” Yongsun shook her head.

Seulgi smiled at Irene who was equally amused by the situation and saw that Irene, together with Joy, Yerim and Seungwan, were trying very hard not to laugh at their new friends. Irene had one hand cover her mouth in a last ditch attempt to keep herself from laughing. 

“Guys! Seulgi is taller!” 

“Yah!” Irene huffed and her eyebrows furrowed, causing them to burst laughing.

“This has to be one of the best ice breakings we’ve had so far, Taeyeon.”

“Definitely.” Taeyeon managed to catch her breath just long enough to reply Yoona before doubling over, guffawing like a middle-aged woman, as her participants started to compare heights with one another. Joy was smugly towering over everybody else while Yerim was crowned the shortest, huffing away as she was pushed to the back of the line by Wheein and Hyejin.

Taeyeon gathered the mess that was her watch and ushered them out of the hall when another instructor shot her an icy glare. Seulgi waved at that instructor, she had been in her watch once before. Giving her a quick bow, Seulgi scurried out the hall to catch up with her watch. 

“Where’d you go?” Taeyeon eyed her curiously.

“Oh..I saw Jessica in the hall.”

“You were in Mont Blanc before?”

“Yeah, a couple of years back.”

***

Taeyeon herded her watch towards the cafeteria, or mess hall as it was called, where every other watch were already gathered. Jessica, Mont Blanc’s instructor briefed all of them about mess hall etiquette and how things worked. Everyone listened intently, none dared to make any noise as she explained. Seulgi saw Taeyeon chuckling with another instructor while pointing at the participants, they would probably tease Jessica later because she scared everybody on the very first day with her icy glares and stone cold face. 

Jessica pointed to the cabinets that lined the walls of the hall, each watch had their very own cabinets where food trays and cutlery were kept. There was also a counter at the very front where Yoona and another CA stood to hand out containers filled with dishes to each of the watches’ representatives and a kettle filled with their drinks.

After the briefing was done, Taeyeon motioned for her watch to send a few volunteers out to collect their food.

“Can you manage the kettle, Irene?”

“I got it, Yongsun. No worries. Yerim-ah, you okay with the rice container?”

“I’m not hopeless, Irene.” 

“Famous last words..” Irene giggled when she heard Hyejin mumbled it as she passed them carrying another tray.

Once they settled everything on their table, the rest got to work in distributing food evenly to the entire watch. They passed the food trays around until everyone had gotten their fair share. Nobody had started eating yet, it was camp tradition that they would only start once everything is in order. Taeyeon announced a short moment of silence to give thanks to the food and they digged in afterwards.

Seulgi sighed when she took her first bite of her dinner, earning her looks from Joy and Yeri. Even Irene, who was sitting across the table from her, raised a brow, wondering if the food really was  _ that  _ good. Seulgi couldn’t help herself, it tasted like home. She made a mental note to not mention it to her mother, ever, she might get kicked out of the house. She smiled sheepishly at her watchmates and continued to dig in, but not before stealing a look at Irene, who was still staring at her. Seulgi pretended to cough and averted her eyes immediately, missing the way Irene smirked at her reaction.

***


	2. Belay

 

Most of the occupants of The K2 woke up with a jolt the following morning. The culprit came in the form of a cheeky Yoona who stood in the middle of their dorm armed with an airhorn. Her smile widened when she heard several thuds and groans, suggesting that some of her participants had either hit their head on their bunk beds or had fallen off the bed all together. The groans and complains intensified when she flipped the light switches and all the sleepyheads quickly shielded their eyes, each complaining at a varying degree as they were temporarily blinded at six in the morning.

“This never gets old, huh?”

“Nope!” Yoona turned around and was not surprised to see that Seulgi was already done brushing her teeth. “You’re up early..”

“Set an alarm with my watch!” Seulgi proudly lifted her arm to show the digital watch on her wrist. “You’re not going to get me with that airhorn this time! I woke up five minutes before you got in.”

Yoona scoffed at a very smug Seulgi and turned her attention back to the soon-to-be rowdy bunch of teenagers. “Alright, guys. Gather in front of the gym hall in half an hour. We’re going for a run so dress appropriately.” Yoona finished and made her way out the dorm to meet up with Taeyeon and the other instructors.

“Does she do that every day?” A still-sleepy Byul asked as she trudged her way to the bathroom.

“She does it whenever she feels like it so that we don’t see it coming.”

“We’re asleep! How are we supposed to see it coming?!” Hyejin whined and untangled herself from the blankets and Wheein.

Mornings at camp typically involved some form of physical training and most of the time it  meant going for a quick jog. Seulgi loved it, as did most of the participants because where else in the city would they be able to take a jog by the beach while admiring the view and taking in the gentle sea breeze along the way. It was a treat they couldn’t get in the city so most try to savour it while they were there. Few complained about having to wake up early for the run, but that didn’t mean nobody complained at all.

“‘Go to camp’ they said. ‘It’ll be fun’ they said,” Yerim grumble as they went about their morning jog along the coastal beach road. Irene, who was in front of her, turned around quickly to give her a thumbs up and resumed her jog. Along with The K2 members, participants from other watches joined the morning activity as all of them jogged in a single file while occasionally turning towards the sea to take in the view.

“You see that island over there, Yerim?” Yerim heard Seulgi’s voice from behind her.

“Yeah? What about it?”

“Yah! No spoilers, Seulgi!” Seulgi turned around and gulped when she saw that Jessica was glaring at her.

“Welp, you heard the lady. You’ll find out soon.”

***

“One of the most important things you guys need to learn here is how to tie knots. These knots that we’re going to learn today will help us when we head out for our expeditions and for solo camp.”

Taeyeon began as her watch sat on the stoop in front of the gym hall with ropes in hand. Joining The K2 was Mont Blanc. The two watches had been briefly introduced during breakfast when they were seated on neighbouring tables in the mess hall. Joy commented that it felt like they were in the Great Hall in Hogwarts and Yongsun reached over the table to high five her. That led to a discussion among The K2 members on the latest mobile game that was recently released for the franchise.

Yoona and Mont Blanc’s CA, Seohyun, had led their respective watches to their store where all necessary equipment were kept - tent sheets, ropes, harnesses, life jackets, etc - everything one would need for a camping trip. After a quick stock take of everything in the store, Yoona took out just enough ropes for them and told them to head back to the gym hall while she locked up.

“Okay, we’re going to start it off easy with a simple Figure of 8. For those who know how to tie these knots, please help you friends. So here we go!” Taeyeon then demonstrated by simply looping and twisting one end of the rope twice and pulling one end of the rope through the loops. “This is how you tie a sexy Figure of 8. Now you guys try. Make sure to get those curves right and sexy!” she finished while eyeing Jessica up and down, wiggling her eyebrows comically. Jessica snorted and gave her a big shove as an attempt to distract their audience from her reddening face.

“Are they a thing?” a girl with short hair from Mont Blanc asked her watchmate who Seulgi recognised as Jessica’s sister, Krystal.

“Unfortunately. They’re so insufferable you have no idea, Am.” Krystal grumbled to her friend.

Seulgi turned her attention back to her watch and was more than happy to help out her friends since it was a refresher course for her. Sitting beside her was Irene and it looked as if she was having trouble with some of the more complicated knots as Taeyeon deemed her handiwork ‘not sexy at all’.

“Don’t mind her, they use that term every single time I was here. It’s like their thing.”

“Oh okay. Wait, I’m lost. How do you do this again?” Irene showed her tangled up rope to Seulgi, eyebrows furrowed as she tried to remember the steps. Seulgi helped untangled it and held up her own rope, guiding Irene step by step until she got it and for every single knot Taeyeon taught them afterwards.

“Taeyeon, how about this one? Is this sexy?” Irene showed her handiwork to their instructor expectantly and Seulgi swore that she probably hadn’t seen anything that adorable before, inhaling deeply in an attempt to keep a straight face. Seulgi exhaled with equal force as Irene’s face lit up when Taeyeon finally nodded approvingly at the knot she tied. She excitedly turned towards Seulgi and raised her hand to high five her, but Seulgi quickly looked down at her rope and tied some random knot. It was only when she felt Irene tap her shoulder did she look back up.

“Y-yes?”

“Taeyeon approved my knot! Thanks for helping me!”

“Happy to help,” Seulgi awkwardly smiled and slowly raised her fist and they shared probably the most awkward fist bump in camp history.

Behind them sat Yerim and Joy who were shaking their heads when they saw the whole thing. They nudged Wheein and Hyejin to look at how the two were in their own little world. The quartet smirked among themselves and nodded - an unspoken agreement was formed and they intended to see it through by the end of camp.

***

The K2 were gathered later in the afternoon outside the gym hall where manila climbing rope lined the wall facing their dorms. Thick, rough, brown ropes were interlaced to form two huge nets were suspended from the roof and it was the camp’s way of introducing its participants to the basics of the belay system and rock climbing.

Pulleys were installed on the roof so that they could thread climbing ropes through it. One end would be hooked on the climber’s harness and the other would be threaded through a belay device on the belayer’s harness. It was up to the belayer to keep the climber safe, Taeyeon told them, because  the belayer would serve as the anchor for the climber on the ground as they made their way up the net, it was up to the belayer to pull and secure the rope. With every pull, the rope would tighten and the climber would not be at risk of falling.

Taeyeon had demonstrated by climbing half way and letting go completely while Yoona quickly secured the rope and kept their instructor suspended in the air, being perfectly safe and was at no risk of hitting the ground. The K2 got to work quickly, each excited, and perhaps mildly terrified, to have their first go at rock climbing.

“Remember, guys. If you think the rope is not tight enough, yell ‘tension’. If you think it’s too tight and you’re getting a wedgie, yell ‘slack’.” Taeyeon reminded. “Now everyone pair up. One of you guys can pair up with Yoona.”

Before Seulgi knew it, everybody had already found their partners and Seungwan volunteered to partner with Yoona because she didn’t trust either Joy or Yerim to keep her safe. Her logic was very reasonable, Seulgi thought. She took a look around and saw that there were only Irene and herself left without partners.

“How are you with heights?”

“N-not very good but I’ll try my best.” Irene looked up at the bell they were supposed to ring at the very top and immediately screwed her eyes shut, lips pressed into a thin line.

“It’s okay, we’ll go last and you can see how others do it first. There’s really nothing to it. Off they go!”

Their first climbers, Yongsun and Wheein, took off. They went up and down the net with little problems and switched places with their partners, Byul and Hyejin, who made it look like a walk in the park. Seungwan went next effortlessly and it was soon Yerim’s turn and she was not ready.

“Tension! Tension!! I can feel myself falling!” Yerim shrieked. “Yah! Park Sooyoung, are you listening? Tension!”

“Yah! Kim Yerim, stop being dramatic. You barely started climbing!” Joy complained. She was Yerim’s belayer and was getting impatient for Yerim to finish her turn so that she could have a go.

“You’re not even two feet off the ground. You’re literally not in any danger.” Seungwan tried to reason with a terrified Yerim who was clutching onto the rope for dear life. “We’re gonna leave you here and go get dinner if you don’t hurry up, I’m just saying.”

“NO! Please don’t!” Yerim very slowly turned around to look for Taeyeon. “C-can Joy go first?”

“Sure, you can go when you’re ready. Joy, give her rope some slack and let her down.”

Yerim slowly repelled down that short distant and collapsed dramatically onto the ground, mumbling something along the lines of never forsaking land again. Seungwan and Joy rolled their eyes and helped the terrified girl up while the rest of them tried their best to stifle their laughter.

Seulgi was watching the entire spectacle with glee from the side as she was acting as someone else’s belayer. She wished somebody had recorded the entire thing because it was great blackmailing material for when they got back home. It was amusing to see the usually gungho Kim Yerim so terrified. Unbeknownst to Seulgi, her own partner was shaking like a leaf as she was about to start her climb and Yerim’s shrieks did not help one bit.

“S-Seulgi…”

“Yes, Irene?”

“You won’t let me fall, r-right?”

Sensing the girl’s fears, Seulgi secured the rope  firmly against the belay device again and gave Irene a firm nod. “I got you. No worries!”

“O-okay..”

“Fighting!” Seulgi cheered and she swore she heard a reply in a very small voice before Irene turned around to face the net. Glancing up one last time, Irene started her climb and Seulgi worked quickly maintain the rope’s tension so that her partner wouldn’t feel insecure.

The rest of the watch cheered Irene on as she climbed because she had expressed her concerns multiple times as she waited for her turn - constantly asking Taeyeon and/or Yoona questions about potential dangers while completing the activity and asking those who had finished their turns their experience and how to go about it.

Seulgi, on the other hand, was dead focused at her task as Irene’s belayer - eyes never leaving the said girl as she slowly made her way up - making sure that the tension on the rope was just right.

“You’re almost there, Irene. You’re doing great! Just a bit more and you can reach the bell!” Seulgi craned her neck to look up at Irene who was nearly at the top. “You’re there! Now you just need to reach out your hand.”

Irene reached out her arm and rang the bell as loudly as she could, the ground team cheering with each ring.

“Alright. Good job, Irene.” Taeyeon congratulated their worry wart from earlier. “Now let go of the net and Seulgi will help you down.”

Irene suddenly panicked. “L-let go?? A-as in, hands off the net?”

“Yes, that’s what Taeyeon meant.” Yoona confirmed Irene’s fears. “It’s alright. Seulgi will keep you safe.”

“Yeah! I won’t let you fall.”

Irene looked down at Seulgi and nodded. And then, she let go.

***

 

 


	3. Floating in the Nile

 

The K2 members were sprawled on the field the next morning, each getting comfortable lying down on the tarpaulin tent sheets that were spread out like a picnic blanket. They were learning how to pitch a tent but decided that it would be easier to just bundle themselves into a burrito. The rest laughed as Hyejin and Joy both demonstrated how to efficiently roll themselves into a burrito while Yerim and Wheein then came and rolled them both around. Taeyeon fished out her camera to take photos and videos of her participants, her unruly laughter could be heard during the videos’ playback as she practically doubled over at their antics.

“Guys, we are _not_ going to be burritos during our expeditions when we can pitch nice and comfy tents. Hyejin, Joy, unroll yourselves then we’ll start with our class today.” Taeyeon called out to the two rolling burritos.

“We’re stuck. Can somebody help?”

Yongsun and Seungwan went over to the two burritos and helped them out of their tent sheets.

The members set to work quickly in pitching a simple A shaped, group tent after Taeyeon and Yoona had demonstrated. Seulgi stepped back and let her watchmates try their hand, occasionally helping out when they were stuck or when the tent’s structure needed reinforcing. Everybody agreed that the best part about learning how to pitch a tent was huddling in it afterwards because it was apparently very comfortable.

“Why is it so comfortable? How is it so comfortable?”

“It’s because you guys pitched this yourselves. Kinda like how food tastes better if you were the one who made it.” Yoona reasoned.

“Alright guys, come on out. We need to learn how to pitch a solo tent.”

“Why do we need a solo tent?” Wheein asked curiously because from what she knew, their expeditions involved the whole watch.

“Because..” Taeyeon paused for dramatic effects. “At the end of camp, you guys are going for a solo camp while Yoona and I get to relax for 24 hours without you kids.” She grinned and high fived her snickering CA.

The watch fell into a slight terror as Taeyeon explained about solo camp and what it usually meant. Seulgi watched her friends in amusement and laughed when Joy came up and shook her by the shoulders.

 

“An entire night alone in the jungle?! That’s not I signed up for! You didn’t say anything about this!”

While Seulgi was being harassed by Joy and Yerim, she glanced at Irene who seemed like she was about to pass out at the  thought of being alone in the dark jungle. Once Joy and Yerim let her go after Taeyeon announced that it was time for their expedition briefing with the other watches, Seulgi went up to Irene to check up on her.

“Irene!” Seulgi was surprised when the said girl jumped slightly before turning around to face her.

“Sorry, I was just thinking about some..things..”

“Solo camp? Don’t worry about it. It’s actually really fun. I’ll tell you about it later”

“Sure.”

When the K2 got to the gym hall for their briefing, they were one of the first few watches to arrive. Mont Blanc, with Jessica as their instructor, was already there ready to go. The two watches greeted each other and chatted before everyone else arrived and Seohyun rolled out a white board and Jessica started the briefing.

Seulgi eagerly listened as the instructor explained their first expedition of the camp and she was pretty sure she was the only one who didn’t complain when Jessica mentioned the journey would take up to six hours on foot, depending on how fast they could trek up the hills. Seulgi looked around at her watchmates and saw that most of them were making faces and sighing as Jessica continued.

“Yes, Amber? Do you have a question?”

“Are we going to carry all the camping gear with us on the hike? The tent sheets and all?”

“You guys don’t have to worry about those. We know they’re very bulky and heavy so they’ll be loaded onto a truck together and sent to the campsite.”

A collective sigh of relief could be heard as soon as Jessica finished her sentence and Taeyeon snorted because her watch were the loudest. Jessica dismissed them once the briefing was over and they headed towards the mess hall for lunch.

***

Seulgi was floating about in the water, enjoying the sun and the salty sea water as her life jacket kept her afloat and she was being rocked back and forth by the waves. Her fellow watchmates were having fun playing not too far away, and she saw that her two satanic friends had somehow convinced the others to start some kind of splash-off. Seulgi was glad she wasn’t involved; it looked kind of intense. Taeyeon and Yoona were supervising from the side to make sure everything remained fun and safe.

She turned her head towards shore where she spotted Irene sitting by the shoreline and drawing patterns on the sand. The said girl had been a little scared about entering the water,  which Taeyeon respected and told her to join if she was feeling confident enough. Their instructor had brought them down to the beach for a water confidence exercise before their upcoming water activities. Seulgi stood up and slowly waded her way towards shore to check up on her new friend.

“You doing alright?”

Irene looked up from her sand doodles and smiled, patting the spot beside her. “It’s pretty nice here. Wanna join me?”

“Sure.” Seulgi shrugged and took a seat beside Irene. Unknown to her, she accidentally sat on whatever Irene was drawing earlier.

“Yah! I worked so hard on that!” She whined and pouted.

“Sorry, I’m a bit clumsy. I’ll draw you something later. I’m pretty good at it.”

“Oh..” Irene was a bit surprised. “Y-you don’t have to.”

Seulgi waved it off and pointed at the mess that was their friends who were then having a go at Yoona and Taeyeon.

“Wanna join them? The water is still pretty shallow over there. It comes up to around your waist probably.”

Irene blinked at her for a bit before nodding hesitantly. Seulgi stood up first and pulled her up, half dragging Irene into the water with her. The rest of the watch stopped their assault on their instructor and CA when they saw that Irene had finally joined them and clapped all of them proud of her for overcoming her fear even by a little.

Taeyeon went over and patted Irene’s back, giving her a thumbs up before calling the K2 to form a circle and link their arms.

“Alright. Now this little exercise is called water confidence. We need you guys to feel confident in the water and this is how it’s going to happen. All of you already linked arms with the ones next to you?” Taeyeon continued when she heard a chorus of yeses. “I’m going to need you guys to lift up your legs, as if you’re sitting. But you guys will be floating, thanks to you life jackets. Understand?”

Seulgi and Byul could feel Irene tense up between them when Taeyeon gave the instruction to sit in the water.

“Don’t worry, Seulgi and I are here to support you!”

“What she said.”

Seulgi and Byul gave her toothy grins and Irene gulped. Taking a deep breathe, she lifted her legs like everybody else and soon all 11 of them were floating about in the water, arms linked. Taeyeon let them continue for a few minutes until she was certain that all her participants were at ease before telling them that the exercise was completed and they could play for another half an hour before having to wash up for dinner.

They had half expected Irene to make a run for shore the moment Taeyeon dismissed them but to their surprised she stayed in the water with them, even if she stayed clear of the chaos by standing quite a distance away from the group. Seulgi didn’t try to get her to join in because she might be slightly more confident than she was before in water, but she decided it was best not to push it.

“Guys, I lost my shoe!” Seungwan suddenly shouted while feeling about the seabed where she stood. “My leg got stuck in the muddy seabed and when I pulled it free my shoe didn’t come out. And now I can’t find it.”

Joy told Seungwan not to move while the rest closed in on where she stood and started searching. Even Irene came over to help. Taeyeon was keeping an eye on her wrist watch the whole time while Yoona joined the search and gave them another ten minutes before they had to wash up for dinner. Seungwan’s eye widened and frantically felt about the seabed.

“Alright, guys. The sun’s going down, we gotta go. Go back and wash up.”

“Wait, wait, wait, wait! I feel something!” Hyejin yelled and dug deep into the muddy seabed. “Is this your shoe?” She lifted something that seemed to be just a big lump of mud, but after wiping away the dirt, Seungwan squealed with joy.

“Way to go, team! Now let’s go. Meet me in the mess hall for dinner in an hour.”

Taeyeon brought them over to the showers installed near the beach to rinse off before they headed back to their dorm, still dripping wet and flicking excess water at each other along the way.

***

Preparations for their expedition began as soon as dinner ended because Taeyeon wanted them to rest as early as possible given their route the next day. Apparently the instructors had drawn lots to pick which route their watch would be taking and her incredibly terrible luck had landed the K2 with the longest route, not that her participants needed to know about it yet. She sighed as she supervised her half her watch who were hauling equipment out from storage to the gym hall. Yoona had led the other half to the water filters to fill up a few gallon bottles to take with them on the hike and to clean their cooking tools.

“What were those rectangular tins they took with them?” Byul asked as she helped tie up the tent sheets with Taeyeon.

“Those are mess tins, the camp version of lunch boxes. That’s what we’re going use instead of plates whenever we’re out on an expedition. Oh hey, Yoong. Everything done at your end?” Taeyeon turned to greet Yoona and the rest of her watch as they came back to the hall to regroup.

“Yup. Mess tins and cutlery all washed and are kept in the mess hall cabinet.”

Taeyeon nodded and pointed towards the nine, standard issue, Camp Gemini backpacks that were laid out together with their camping gear. Each of them took one and dragged their tired bodies up to their dorms to pack and rest after they were dismissed.

Seulgi was resting in bed when she felt three people climbed up to her bunk. By the time she got up, the intruders had already made themselves comfortable on the bed. She sighed when she saw the looks on their faces - the satans reincarnate looked like they just thought of something and Seungwan looked at her apologetically, thus confirming her suspicions.

“Yes?”

“So….” Yerim drawled. “Where’s Irene?”

“She went out to get water and go for a walk with Yongsun before lights out.”

“So….” It was Joy’s turn. “Irene..” Joy crossed her arms and nudged Seulgi with her elbow, eyebrows dancing with glee.

“Seulgi, you have a thing for Irene, don’t you?” Byul head peeked out from the upper bunk’s railing and soon everybody was crowding Seulgi’s bed, much to her horror. She didn’t know if the bed was steady enough to support their weight.

“No, I don’t know what you guys are talking about. We’re just friends.”

“That’s what they all say..” Hyejin said in a sing-song manner.

“I’m telling you guys, we’re just friends.” Seulgi insisted.

“Me thinks the lady doth protest too much. Don’t you guys think so?”

“What are you guys talking about?” Everybody whipped their heads towards the door to see that Irene and Yongsun had returned from their walk and quickly adjourned their impromptu meeting. Seulgi laughed awkwardly at Irene and lied back down, pulling the blanket over her and prayed that Irene wouldn’t ask any more questions.

It was when the lights were turned off did Seulgi dared peeked out from the blanket and sighed in relief, only to scream in terror a few seconds later when she spotted Irene staring at her with one eyebrow raised through the bunk’s railings.

“AJDKAFHKLJDSHFKAJ IRENE YOU CAN’T DO THAT!!!!”

Irene burst laughing and snorted as she made her way to the bathroom in the dark, letting Seulgi and her racing heart be. When they heard the door close, Joy whispered not so quietly. “Seulgi, you got it bad.”

And the rest of the watch snickered as quietly as they could.


	4. Stuck on You

 

“Are we there yet?”

“Nope.”

“....are we there yet now?”

“No, Yerim. We’re not there yet.”

“...now?”

“Yerim, we started the hike half an hour ago..”

“Fine..”

The K2 trekked in a single line up the steep hill with Taeyeon leading and Yoona playing the role of the sweeper at the back of the line, making sure that nobody was left behind. Wheein had shouted ‘OHANA!’ immediately after Taeyeon explained Yoona’s role as a sweeper and the watch chanted the quote from the popular animated film, much to Taeyeon’s delight. The members were showing a lot of team spirit and was getting along with one another very well.

The hike continued in relative silence, save the occasional groaning as they haul themselves over fallen trees and branches. In front of Yoona were Seulgi and Byul, who were in-charge of carrying the gallon bottles on the hike, passing them to whoever who needed a drink. The hike was calm and peaceful until Taeyeon spotted a trail of ants and told them to stay clear of it.

“Did you know if you licked the ant’s butt, it’s sweet.” Seulgi said all of a sudden. The entire watch came to a stop and stared at her. “What?” She asked innocently. 

“What was said?” Joy asked incredulously.

“Seulgi, are you alright?” Irene, who was in front of her, lifted her hand to feel Seulgi’s forehead for a fever.

“I’m alright.” Seulgi almost swatted Irene’s hand away in surprise and took a step backwards.

Meanwhile at the front and back of the line, Taeyeon and Yoona were throwing their heads back laughing at how innocent Seulgi was. 

“I can’t believe she fell for that, Taeyeon-ah.”

“Who told you that, Seulgi?”

“Sooyoung did, when I was in Everest.”

It was apparently a joke that the instructors told their younger participants during camps because they were still young and gullible. Yoona reached over and patted a pouting Seulgi’s back as they continued their hike. 

“Cute..” Irene remarked offhandedly at Seulgi and giggled. Irene turned around and saw that Seungwan was busy looking at some mushrooms along the trail. She patted her bum and Seungwan turned around, her eyebrows furrowed.

“Time to go, Seungwan-ah.” Irene smiled innocently and Seungwan simply nodded and off they went again.

“Psst..Seulgi” Byul tapped her shoulder and whispered. “Your ears are bright red now and we both know it’s not because they laughed at you.” Byul saw Seulgi’s shoulders tensed and snickered.

A shriek pierced the quiet jungle during midday when Yerim discovered several parasites on her foot while they were having lunch in a glade after they had descended their first hill. Seulgi quickly took a look at her foot and saw that it was just a few leeches that had attached themselves to Yerim’s ankle as they hiked. Taeyeon came to examine too and told them that it was nothing to worry about, it was just like a blood donation. The leeches would fall off once they had had their fill.

The look on Yerim’s face told Seulgi that she wanted them gone right there and then so she fished out a can of mosquito repellant from her backpack. Giving it a good shake, Seulgi aimed the nozzle at Yerim’s ankle. The rest of the watch observed in amazement as the parasites curled and released their grip on their friend’s ankle, leaving bruise marks on where they were feeding from. Curiousity got the better of them as they abandoned their lunches one by one and took off their shoes to check. Seulgi’s mosquito repellant was passed around the watch as the girls wanted nothing to do with the parasite.

While the rest of the watch were busy inspecting their feet, Seulgi was about to sit back down to finish her lunch when she heard a whiny hum from behind her, its pitch and volume increasing by the second. She turned around to see Irene holding her shoe in one hand and head turned the other way with her eyes screwed shut. Seulgi craned her neck and saw that there was a spot of red on Irene’s shoe, a telltale sign that she, too, had fallen prey to the tiny parasites.

“Irene?”

“It got me, didn’t it? There’s blood on my shoe.”

Seulgi set her lunch down and went over to check on Irene’s exposed foot to confirm the said girl’s suspicions. “They’re stuck on you, on your leg, yeah.”

“They?! There’s more than one??”

“Only two. No worries, we’ll get them off. Joy, pass the bug spray.”

While the teenagers fuss over their feet and the parasites, Taeyeon and Yoona were shaking their heads, watching them with much amusement.

***

“Alright, guys. We’re here.” Taeyeon announced and the K2 tiredly cheered as they set their things down and plopped unceremoniously onto the nearest surface. “You guys rest for a bit then we have to start pitching our tents and start a fire to cook dinner before it gets dark.”

Seulgi undid her shoelaces to finally check her own feet for any signs of leeches and was not surprised to see multiple red spots on her socks. She was about to reach for her backpack to get a fresh pair when somebody sat behind her and leaned fully on her. 

“I’m soooo tired, Seulgiii.” Joy whined and sighed.

Seulgi awkwardly lifted her arm in an attempt to pat Joy’s head without moving. She gave up after a few attempts because Seungwan commented that she looked like a monkey from the back as she blindly patted the air behind her, missing Joy’s head every single time.

They rested for a few minutes before Taeyeon divided them into two teams, one in charge of pitching tents and the other in charged of the fire. Yoona led the tent team while Taeyeon led the other. Among the other watches that had arrived at the site was Mont Blanc. 

“Yah! Kim Taeyeon, did you cheat with your route? How did you guys reach first?”

“Because I am the ultimate instructor slash genius. Am I right, guys?” Taeyeon asked her watch, determined to brag about making it to the campsite in record time despite having taken the longest route.

“Right!” The K2 chorused as they went about their assigned tasks. Taeyeon turned to face Jessica with the most smug expression and the latter rolled her eyes. 

“Well then,  _ genius _ ..” Jessica made a face before continuing, “have fun sleeping alone in the hammock tonight. I’m going to pitch my tent and you not welcomed.” She stuck her tongue out at Taeyeon and walked away, knowing very well that the latter was already regretting that she bragged.

“What? No! Sica! Wait!” Taeyeon watched helplessly as Jessica strutted back to her own watch to help with their tents.

“Shouldn’t have bragged man..they don’t like it when people do that.” 

Taeyeon turned around to see Yerim and Joy shaking their heads at her while gathering firewood. “I beg your pardon?”

They shrugged and went back to their tasked as if nothing happened.

***

Dinner was a simple affair of burgers and some apples that were transported to the campsite by the truck. Taeyeon and Yoona manned their makeshift kitchen and the fire while the rest of the K2 looked for more wood. Seungwan had volunteered to help with the cooking since she believed that she was the most competent in the kitchen among the lot after seeing how almost everyone, except Irene, had averted their eyes when Taeyeon asked if anybody wanted to help.

“Seungwan..” Taeyeon called as she tossed another patty onto the pan. “Make sure you stay in school, alright? Otherwise you’d be flipping burgers like me.”

Seungwan’s eyes widened as she nodded profusely at Taeyeon’s advice. Yoona, on the other hand, was trying very hard not to laugh because Seungwan’s eyes looked like they could pop out any moment.

“This never gets old!” Taeyeon and Yoona high fived each other and went back to their work.

While dinner was being prepared, those not involved were either gathering firewood, hanging around the campsite of waiting in line to use the showers. The campsite was located by an abandoned mining lake that sat in a valley between limestone hills. 

Seulgi saw that the camp had added a new activity to the site, a platform sat atop a small hill across the lake and cables were set, extending from the hill all the way across to their side of the lake. It didn’t take long for Seulgi to figure out what they had installed and she cheered - they were going to go ziplining the next day and she couldn’t wait for it. 

Irene made a face and inhaled sharply when Seulgi told her what she had discovered and spent the next few minutes staring at the zipline cable, as though she was mentally preparing herself for the activity the next day. 

“You found it real quick.” Jessica came up behind them and Irene jumped when she heard her voice, much to Jessica’s amusement. “Wow, Taengoo’s right. You  _ are _ jumpy. Don’t worry, you’ll be safe riding that tomorrow.” Jessica patted her back and it somehow calmed Irene a little.

“We’re going to ride that tomorrow for real?” Seulgi’s face lit at the thought.

“Yup. After breakfast, we’re all going to take turns and whichever watch finishes first will push off back to the gym hall.”

“Nice.”

“K TWOOOOOOOOO! Dinner’s ready, come and get it!” 

Taeyeon bellowed, catching everyone’s attention in one breath. Seulgi and Irene turned their attention towards their instructor and ran back while Jessica shook her head. As fascinated as they were by the zipline, they were both hungry and tired after the long hike earlier. 

“See you later, Jessica!” Seulgi hastily added as they took off.

“No wonder Taengoo gets along so well with them. They’re all the same” she mumbled to no one in particular.

***

The K2 kept themselves entertained that night with camp games and riddles that Yoona had asked them. Seulgi wanted so bad to answer each of the questions but Yoona sent a glare her way and Seulgi immediately kept quiet while the rest whined to their CA about not knowing how to answer them. Yoona all but laughed and asked them a new question instead of revealing the answers.

“I’ll tell you guys at the end of camp if you still remember them. Now, here’s an easy one. Ready?”

“Yes!!”

“If this,” Yoona began and held up her index finger, “is a spear. What is this?” She then moved her hand from side to side.

“This doesn’t even make any sense!”

It should be noted that after the previous riddles that had yet to be solved, their frustration levels were increasing by the riddle. Yerim and Joy had both given up, as did Seungwan. Irene was bugging Seulgi to give her some hints to answer the riddles. The rest were thinking of all possible answers when somebody cried out excitedly.

“Oh! OH! I KNOW!!” Everybody turned towards the voice and it turned out to be Yongsun who was already jumping with excitement to answer the silly riddle. “SHAKESPEARE!” 

“You got it!” Yoona reached out and high fived Yongsun.

“WHAT?!!!”

“Hello, police? I’d like to report a terrible pun.” Byul rolled her eyes at how excited Yongsun was.

***

Seulgi was excited. Actually, Seulgi was beyond excited. She was practically bouncing as they stood in line for their turn to go ziplining, the K2 were scheduled to go after Mont Blanc and they were almost done. Each member of their watch had suited up and they were ready for action, or at least some were ready for action. The usual scaredy cats of their watch, Yerim and Irene, were both watching the Mont Blanc members quietly as they waited for their turn. 

The watch had somehow agreed for have them go first because that way, they could all be there to provide support and motivation for them to step off the platform. Yerim and Irene weren’t very keen on the idea but went along anyway because it definitely sounded better than the two of them being dead last and all their friends were already across the lake.

“Okay, Yerim. That’s one foot off, now let’s get the other foot and you can go.” Yoona coaxed a trembling Yerim. “You can do it!”

Yerim gulped and finally let go, screaming the entire way until she reached the other end.

“S-seulgi..why don’t you go first?” Irene tried to delay her inevitable zipline ride but Seulgi was not going to give in.

“No, it’s your turn. You can do it!” 

Irene sighed as Seulgi gave her two thumbs up and looked behind Seulgi, hoping to find somebody who was willing to swap places with her. But all the girl found was the entire watch giving her thumbs up, too. “A-alright then..Yoona? I’m ready.”

“Atta girl, Irene! Come on up here and let’s set you up.”

Seulgi squinted to see what was happening after Irene’s turn ended. It seemed as though she was high fiving and laughing with Yerim while waving at the rest of them that were still on the platform. Her ears might have deceived her, but Seulgi swore she heard Irene squealling happily as she seemingly discussed the zipline with Yerim.

“Ready to go?” Yoona’s voice snapped Seulgi out of her observation and with a firm nod, Seulgi was off, too.

 


	5. Jupiter

 

It was a couple of days after they had returned from their first expedition. Taeyeon had kept them on their feet with simple team building activities and games for them to rest. Their next big project was a water expedition the following day, which was why Taeyeon had gathered them at the boathouse that afternoon - they needed practice before the expedition. Hauling five, two-seater kayaks out from their racks, the K2 lined them up by the beach and paired up, each girl suited with a life jacket and equipped with a kayak paddle.

After a briefing on basic paddling techniques, each team enthusiastically carried their kayaks to the water, eager to try kayaking for the first time, all except Irene and Seulgi who were still on shore. Irene gave Seulgi an apologetic look and took a few deep breaths. Taking a dip in the shallow waters was one thing, paddling out into the open sea on a piece of plastic was another. 

“Irene..”

“N-no, Seulgi!”

“Irene!” Irene looked up and saw Seungwan waving at them from her kayak.

“Seungwan, not you, too!”

“First one to reach the buoy gets to pat Seungwan’s butt!” Ten heads turned turned simultaneously towards Taeyeon who cheekily yelled from her speedboat a distance away. Her arm was stretched out, pointing at an orange buoy that was floating about 100 metres from the shoreline.

“Why my butt??”

“Because..” Taeyeon pointed at Irene and their eyes widened after seeing how the said girl was suddenly very enthusiastic, pulling Seulgi towards their kayak and marched out to the water like a general.

The K2 laughed at how excited Irene got at the mention of a race and the prize. The entire watch had noticed that the tiny scaredy cat had a tendency to pat their bottoms, particularly Seungwan’s, and Taeyeon’s little race was a sure fire way to get her into kayaking. Seulgi was more than happy to oblige to Irene’s eagerness to win, seeing her overcoming her fears bit by bit was turning out to be one of her favourite things about camp that year.

The other girls started paddling towards their destination, the lonely buoy out at sea, leaving Irene and Seulgi in the dust seeing how they had a good head start. Seungwan was horrified at how pumped everybody was and paddled faster. If she won, her bum would be safe. Or so she thought. Her chances of winning was quite slim since her partner was not paddling at all.

“Yoona, come on! We have to reach the buoy before everybody else!” Seungwan grunted as she gave her all in paddling. “Please?” She turned around as much as she could and pouted at their CA who took the backseat. 

“Aaaw..” Yoona set her paddle down and patted Seungwan’s head. “Alright, let’s save your bum.”

The kayaks currently in the lead for a pat at Seungwan’s bum was Wheein and Hyejin’s and Joy and Yerim’s. The four satans were already halfway to the buoy when Taeyeon made the announcement and cackled as they paddled at an easy pace, confident that the others wouldn’t be able to catch up in time. They were already so close to the buoy after all.

Unbeknownst to them, a dark force was coming up behind them as Irene and Seulgi paddled with a purpose. Joy took one look behind them and yelled at Yerim to paddle faster as the ones previously in last place were steady gaining speed and was about to overtake them.

“Paddle, Yerim-ah! Paddle like your life depends on it!”

“I’m paddling, Park Sooyoung! Stop yelling!”

“Why are all of you so eager to pat my bum?!” Seungwan whined as she too, was catching up.

“Because it’s squishy and nice to touch!”

“WHAT?!”

“Yes, Byul. Thank you for answering on my behalf.” Irene stopped paddling briefly to give Byul a nod and the latter responded with a greasy wink and a finger gun. Her partner, Yongsun, made a face and smacked her shoulder from behind. 

Taeyeon stayed close to her watch with her speedboat and laughed at how Irene and Seulgi managed to turn the tables and reached the buoy first. Irene had temporarily forgotten they were on a floating piece of plastic and did a little victory dance, effectively rocking the kayak rather violently. It would’ve overturned had Seulgi not stopped her. Irene smiled sheepishly at her partner and Taeyeon saw that Seulgi’s ears were once again bright red.

“That kid has it bad..” She mumbled to no one in particular and called out to her watch to head back to shore for lunch.

The K2 were sprawled at their table in the mess hall, each too tired to sit upright. Jessica came up and rolled her eyes when she saw them.

“Yah, Kim Taeyeon. We were suppose to have them take it easy.”

“You weren’t there. It was so worth it. Am I right guys?”

The K2 gave Taeyeon thumbs up while Seungwan released the biggest sigh. Taeyeon turned back to Jessica and smiled.

“Stupid dork.” Jessica rolled her eyes again and walked back to her watch.

***

“Okay, since we had a tiring morning. We’re going to take it easy this afternoon.”

The K2 were gathered in the gym hall slightly after lunch, each with a compass in hand. Seulgi excitedly waited for Taeyeon to brief the watch about the activity they were going to do in a short while, it was one of her favourites at camp.

“We’re going to learn orienteering today and after we’re done with class, you guys will be split into two teams and we’ll do a scavenger hunt.”

Seulgi sat back and let the others try their hand at orienteering, watching with glee when her friends ended up turning the compass round and round while trying to find where North was, Yerim had taken to turning her whole body instead of just little device. She already knew what they were going to be hunting for later, but as Jessica had mentioned earlier during camp, Seulgi was not going to spoil the activity for her friends.

She noticed later when their scavenger hunt started that the coordinates they were given had changed and it thrilled the said girl. While the objects they were hunting for was the same, their positions had been moved and it was up to them to find it in the large camp area. They were split into two teams and were both given a set of coordinates and a starting point. Once Taeyeon blew the whistle, both teams were off. Yoona and Taeyeon were present at respective teams to give them hints in case they lost their way.

Yoona tailed Seulgi’s team as they went around searching for their next target. They were tasked to look for letters that they assume would eventually form a word. Those letters were painted on random places around camp and the only way to find them was to use their compass to point them in the correct direction. Seulgi was first to use the compass and then passed it to her teammates for them to give it a go. 

Meanwhile, Irene proved Taeyeon’s statement correct about being a natural born leader as she led her team during their orienteering scavenger hunt. Seungwan, Joy and Yerim were in-charged of working the compass while Irene read them the coordinates, her keen eye spotting the letters before they even reached their destination even though some were painted on the most obscure places like on a rock. Their team worked efficiently and managed to piece together with word in record time, as opposed to Seulgi’s team who were more relaxed about it and took slightly longer.

The K2 regrouped in the gym hall afterwards and presented their respective words. Irene’s team found the word “cooperation” while Seulgi’s found “responsibility”. They clapped to congratulate themselves on a job well done because wondering about the large camp area under the afternoon sun was not easy.

“Well done, K2!” Taeyeon congratulated them again. “In this camp, we aim to build character in our participants and to teach them about responsibility and also teamwork - two things that were needed to complete the scavenger hunt - and the nine of you did very well. I’m very proud of you guys. This might actually be a new, unofficial camp record.”

The K2 erupted in another round of cheers.

***

Seulgi was hunched over her belongings while packing her backpack for their water expedition when she saw two shadows loomed over her. Nothing good would come out of it, Seulgi thought as she paused her packing and slowly turned around to meet Joy and Yerim. They had that look on their faces which told Seulgi that they were up to no good.

“Yes, Satans? How can I help you?”

“Irene just went out to refill her water bottle..” Joy said nonchalantly.

“Alone, if I may add.” 

“Yes, she told me about it before she went out.” Seulgi noticed that the others were starting to crowd around her again. “So…??”

Joy rolled her eyes and hauled Seulgi towards their dorm’s entrance, the others trailing behind them like a flock of sheep.

“Seulgi, if you want to even have the slightest chance with her, you have to at least start talking to her outside of activities!” Yerim flailed her arms in exasperation, not sure if Seulgi was actually dumb or was just playing dumb.

“Look! She’s going alone to the water cooler. Go say hi or something.” Joy pointed towards the little water station by the steps up the hill to their dorm. 

The two pushy satans gave Seulgi a nudge before she grumbled and went down the steps, scratching her head as she thought of what to say to Irene when she reached. Seulgi paused to turn back but saw that her watchmates had created a blockade around the entrance, effectively prevented her from chickening out. She sighed and continued walking down the steps. Unknowingly to her, Joy and Yerim descended the slope using a little path the found they found the bushes and hid a safe distance away from the water station.

Seulgi went down the steps relatively quickly, skipping the last step before the water station and landed with a little thud, causing Irene to squeak and jump a tiny bit. Irene turned around with a glare, water tumbler poised for a strike before exhaling in relief when she saw that it was just her bunkmate.

“Stop doing that.” She turned around and continued filling her large bottle of water.

“Sorry, it’s a habit. I always jump that last step.”

“You’ll wear out your knees faster if you do that often.”

“Oh..”

“All done. Your turn.” Irene stepped aside and lingered around, waiting for Seulgi to finish to return together.

“So...uhm..Irene?”

“Yes?”

“You..uhm..come here often?”

Seulgi could hear a faint sound of somebody facepalming in the background and rolled her eyes.

“It’s my first time here at camp, Seulgi..”

“Right..right..silly me.”

They grew quiet for a moment before Irene spoke, “The view is really nice from here.”

“Huh?”

Seulgi followed Irene’s gaze even though she knew what the latter was referring to. That particular water station had a view that was similar to the one they could see from the K2’s balcony, perhaps just not as far up. Everything was quiet and peaceful as the camp prepared for bed. The only sounds were from the waves that crashed rhythmically on the shore and the sounds of cicadas hidden in the trees around them. Seulgi looked back at Irene, about to say something when she saw that Irene was looking up at the sky, eyes filled with wonder.

“The stars are really pretty and easy to see here. You can’t even see them in the city. There’s just too many lights.” 

“Yeah..I don’t think I’ve seen this many stars in a while. Hey check out that really bright one by the moon.”

“That might actually be a planet..Jupiter maybe. If it’s that close to the moon and still that bright.” Irene paused and looked at Seulgi when she felt the girl staring at her. “Yes?”

“Nothing..it’s just feels kinda cool, ya know? Like hey check it out! We saw a planet!”

Irene giggled. “You’re cute, you know that?”

“Eh?”

“Let’s go back.” Irene changed the topic quickly. “It’s way past our bedtime.”

“Oh..okay.” Seulgi gestured for Irene to go first and she followed, this time not missing the rustling of the bushes behind them. She made a mental note to strangle the two satans the next morning.


	6. Just Hangin'

 

Seulgi found herself seated in the front seat of her shared kayak with Irene during the expedition the following afternoon, the said girl’s confidence were not as high without the prospect of a contest of sorts. It suited Seulgi just fine, she didn’t mind it at all. It was just a standard rule that the more experience person should take the back seat because they were the ones who would be in-charge of changing the kayak’s direction as they paddled. 

They paddled in a diamond shaped formation, with the expedition leader at the very front, a sweeper at the back and a left and right flank manning the sides to make sure that nobody was left behind. Krystal and Amber were unanimously voted as leaders while Seungwan volunteered to be the sweeper with Yoona. Another team from Mont Blanc took the left flank and K2’s resident Satan twins took the right. Instructors accompanied them on motor boats and dinghies.

The journey to their campsite sounded much simpler compared to the one they took for the land expedition a few days ago. Their destination for the water expedition was an island just opposite camp, the one Seulgi mentioned to Yerim during the first few days of camp before Jessica had told her not to spoil the upcoming schedules for her friends. The distance did not seem that great, but the currents were against them and that was where their struggle began.

They departed after lunch while the tides were still high. The trip would only take upto two hours at most so there was no hurry, they would make it to the site before the sun set. Most of the K2 members were still tired from their impromptu race the day before and were at the back of the formation near Seungwan and Yoona. They were amazed that Joy and Yerim were unaffected by yesterday’s race - they were doing a good job as the right flank in keeping up with the expedition’s formation.

Seulgi paddled at what she assumed was a comfortable pace. It was when she felt they were slowing down did she stop and turn back as much as she could to check up on her partner.

“Hey, Irene. You doing okay back there?”

Irene seemed to have snapped out of her daydreams when Seulgi called her. “Huh? Yes? I’m okay, don’t worry.”

“You sure? Do you want to call Taeyeon over and ride on the boat to the island instead?”

“No, no. I’m alright. I was..uhm..just admiring the view.”

“Oh..uhm..okay.” Seulgi turned around and continued kayaking.

Unknowingly to her, Irene was admiring her form as Seulgi continued to paddle. Irene smiled to herself, happy that Seulgi didn’t catch on. She picked up her paddle and matched Seulgi’s pace and off they went.

The currents were not the only thing that they had going against them. Taeyeon had fun steering her boat towards their formation to create waves that rocked their kayaks, making their lives difficult. She did that a few times until one high pitched voice pierced through the sound of the roaring motor.

“Yah! Kim Taeyeon, quit it!” It was Jessica who was on a solo kayak, having trouble keeping it from overturning since she was closest to the boat’s course. “If this kayak overturns, you are dead.”

“Sorry, Sica! Didn’t see you there.” Taeyeon smiled sheepishly and went off to the other side of the formation, leaving them alone to paddle peacefully. The others silently thanked Jessica and went about paddling towards the island, they were almost there, the beach was in sight and it motivated them to keep going.

“Almost there, guys! A little more!” Amber yelled from the front of the formation and the rest cheered.

***

The beach side camp was a mild chaos when they arrived, as it usually was if Seulgi recalled correctly. They paddled as close to the beach as they could before getting off their kayaks and carried them onto the beach where Taeyeon and Seohyun were already waiting for them, ready to arrange the kayaks neatly further inland. 

Seulgi and Irene dropped off their kayak and went back out to the beach to help others who had just arrived while the rest formed a human chain to unload their belongings that were ferried to the island. It took some time for things to calm down and for each watch to pick a spot where their tents would be pitched. Once they got that out of the way and had washed up, it was time to help prepare dinner.

Wheein and Hyejin brought out two of their tent sheets and spread it on the ground as a makeshift picnic blanket and was sprawled on it in record time. The others soon joined them as there was more than enough space for everybody. Even Yoona came and sat with them as she took a break after helping Taeyeon and the other instructors organise their camp site and pitch tents.

“I’m so tired, Yoona..”

“You guys will feel better after dinner, no worries.” Yoona patted Hyejin’s head. “Tonight’s activity is a fun one!”

Several heads turned towards Yoona at the mention of ‘fun’ because their CA had a very different definition of the word and it usually meant that something devious was coming their way.

“Stop scaring them, Yoong.” Taeyeon came and swatted Yoona’s head playfully. “Go help Seungwan and Irene serve dinner, you guys.” Their instructor motioned at their two friends who were manning the stove not too far away and they scurried to help, not wanting to delay their meal.

Taeyeon announced after dinner that they were going on a short trek in the jungle behind the campsite and everybody immediately armed themselves with their torchlights. Seulgi didn’t bother because she knew Taeyeon would tell them to put it away. They weren’t allowed to bring them on the trek.

“Nooooo!!!” Yerim complained. “How are we going to see in the dark?”

“You’ll be able to see just fine, Yerim. Don’t worry.” Taeyeon patted her head and told them to form a single file and off they went.

The trek turned out to be more of a nature walk, the trail was mostly flat and the path was clear. They walked pass some bushes before entering the jungle, but even then the trail was still easy to trek in the dark. Irene was behind Seulgi that and had one hand gripping tightly onto Seulgi’s shirt. Whenever Seulgi seemed to be walking a little faster, Irene would tug her shirt a little and the said girl would slow down.

“Taeyeon, did the sky got brighter?” Byul asked when she realised their surroundings were no longer pitch black. “I can actually see clearly!”

“Night vision!” their instructor explained with a cheeky smile, her mischievous dimple showing. “Your eyes will automatically adjust to the darkness and it’ll be as clear as day. Am I right, guys? Who here can see clearly? She asked and everybody raised their hands. “Right on! Now let’s get back. Time to rest up for tomorrow!”

“What’s happening tomorrow?”

“Oh, you’ll see.”

***

The K2 found themselves suspended in midair once again the next day as they repelled roughly three or four storeys down a cliff near the campsite. Seulgi had always loved the activity since her first time at camp because it gave her a good view of the horizon and the clear, blue sea that they had traversed the day before. 

They took turns hiking up a short trail that led to the top of the cliff where Taeyeon would be waiting for them while Yoona stayed at the bottom of the cliff to make sure the climbing ropes remained untangled. It was easy to know whenever somebody was making their way down the ropes, they would either be shrieking in terror about going over the edge of the cliff or admiring the view.

She happily hiked up the short trail andi was not surprised to see that Yerim and Irene when she reached the top. They had hiked up quite some time ago but nobody had seen them descend yet. The two of them were huddled far away from the cliff’s edge clinging to some tree branches, insisting that the other should go first.

“Yah, Kim Yerim. You hiked up here first so you should go first!”

“Yah, Bae Juhyun. I’m letting you go first so be grateful and go!”

Seulgi shook her head and wondered when did Irene ever mentioned her full name before this. She shrugged and turned to give Byul, who was already starting her descend, a quick thumbs up and the latter disappeared over the cliff’s edge. 

“Hey, Yerm. How’s it hanging? Pun intended.” Seulgi chuckled.

“Shut up, Seulgi!” Yerim did not find Seulgi’s joke amusing three storeys up a cliff.

“Irene, you okay?”

Irene hesitantly gave Seulgi a thumbs up and went back to clinging onto the branches. Seulgi went and took a seat beside her and Irene immediately let go of the branch and clung onto Seulgi instead. Taeyeon raised a brow, amused by how fast Seulgi’s face coloured and Yerim rolled her eyes at the two of them. Standing up swiftly, she announced that she was going to take her turn to repel. 

“Well, that’s one way to get you to go.”

“Ain’t nobody got time to be third wheeling, Taeyeon..” she grumbled while Taeyeon prepped her for the descend and their instructor threw her head back laughing.

“You sound like Krystal when she’s around Sica and I.” Taeyeon patted Yerim’s head and did some final checks. “Alright, kid. You’re good to go. Au revoir!” 

Yerim saluted Taeyeon and disappeared over the edge.

Meanwhile, Seulgi was trying her best to talk Irene into taking her turn and repel down the cliff. She tried almost every reason she could think of - that the view on the way down was going to be great, that Irene basically had done it before a few days back at the gym hall and that Yoona was at the bottom waiting for her so there was nothing to worry about. 

Irene looked at her and back to Taeyeon, her silent plea to be excused from the activity went unnoticed by both of them. They were all that were left, everybody else had taken their turn and the next watch was already on their way for their turn. Seulgi suddenly remembered something and called Taeyeon.

“We can go down two at a time, right? Sooyoung let us do it a couple of years back.”

“You can. We usually only do that whenever there are too many participants. Let me set everything up.”

Seulgi thanked their instructor and turned her attention back to Irene who was looking at her incredulously. “What?”

“I’m not going down that cliff.”

“Which is why I’ll repel down with you. It’ll be fine.”

“Alright, kids. It’s done. Who’s up first?” Taeyeon called out from near the cliff’s edge while holding up the climbing rope.

Seulgi looked back at Irene and nudged her head towards Taeyeon’s direction. Irene sighed in resignation. Hesitantly getting up, she dusted her pants and slowly made her way to Taeyeon. Their instructor nodded at Seulgi and mouthed her thanks to the experienced participant. Once they were both ready, Taeyeon counted down from three and they slowly moved backwards towards the cliff’s edge, Seulgi reassuring Irene that it would be fine the entire way.

Things were relatively easier after they had gone over the edge. Putting their body in an L position, they kicked the cliff walls and released the rope bit by bit, allowing them to descend at a comfortable pace. Seulgi would occasionally nudge her head towards the view, telling Irene where everything was, they could still see everything from where they were since they had only started.

“You can see the gym hall right over there!” 

“Oh. It’s so small from here.” Irene squinted at the distance and gasped, realising that they had paddled a very long distance to get to the beach side camp. “And we’re going to have to go all the way back tomorrow. Joy..”

“Going back would be easier since we’re going to be going with the current and not against it like yesterday.”

“True..”

They continued chatting while working the ropes on their way down and Irene squeaked in surprised when her butt came into contact with the ground below. Talking to Seulgi had somehow distracted her from the activity and she had subconsciously repelled her way down the cliff without realising it. Yoona helped her up and freed her from the repelling gear and harness, while Seulgi managed on her own. 

Taeyeon hiked down not long after Yoona signalled her that they were done and congratulated the lot. Seulgi got a pat on the back for her help in getting her two friends to take their turn. She beamed at their instructor and skipped all the way back to camp.


	7. Summer Storm

 

It started with a single droplet, then followed by a few more before their rhythm became steady and soon it was pouring rain over the island. The winds were strong that night, carrying the raindrops everywhere, including into the K2’s tent. Seulgi and Byul, who were sleeping right next to the tent’s two entrances, sat up immediately as the entrance of their tent was starting to be drench by the rain and scooted closer to Seungwan and Yongsun who were next to them, respectively. The others soon stirred from the movement and everybody huddled together towards the middle of the tent to stay dry.

“Why does the rain look super heavy out here?” Hyejin asked sleepily.

“Probably because we’re outdoors without a solid shelter..” Yongsun reasoned.

“It doesn’t seem like it’s going to stop anytime soon..” Byul trailed off and yawned. “What time is it now?”

Seulgi stretched her arm and gave it a shake to adjust the position of her watch. “It’s a little after three,” she relayed and her friends grumbled about being too sleepy to paddle all the way back to base camp in a few hours.

Joy suddenly snorted and patted Seulgi’s shoulder to get her attention. “Hey, guys..remember that one time were caught in the rain after school?

The three of them, Seungwan, Yerim and Seulgi, chuckled among themselves while their new friends stared at them blankly except Irene who was smiling faintly at them. 

“What happened?” Wheein asked curiously.

“This dummy over here,” Joy pointed at Seungwan but a bright flash of lightning silenced the girls. Yongsun suddenly pointed towards the entrance on Seulgi’s end and the rest quickly turned towards it. There was a dimly lit face hovering by the entrance and it slowly broke into a creepy, Cheshire grin. The girls screamed, just as thunder roared in the skies. The unknown being cackled maniacally and Seulgi quickly moved to shield her friends from whatever it was.

“Man, I wished I had a camera with me!!” It turned out to be Yoona who came to check up on how they were doing in the storm. “You should’ve seen your faces!” 

“YOONAAAAAA!!!!!” The girls screamed in frustration only to find their CA laughing even harder.

“Sorry, I couldn’t resist. Taeyeon sent me over to make sure everything is okay.” Yoona paused and took a look at them. “You guys seem okay.”

“We  _ were  _ okay.” Yerim rolled her eyes and continued, “But now I think half of us is going to have a heart attack soon”

“Aaw I’m flattered. Thank you, Yerim.” Yoona paused again as lightning and thunder continued outside. “The rain looks like it’s going to stop soon so try to get some sleep, alright guys?” Yoona stretched her hand to pat Seulgi’s head and went back to her hammock.

The K2 members grumbled at their prankster CA as they waited for the rain to stop. 

“Seulgi?” Byul asked all of a sudden. “What’s solo camp like?”

“Solo camp huh?” Seulgi thought for a while on how to explain it to her friends without making it sound too intense. It really wasn't the case at all. They just had to be alone at their own individual tents for almost a full day and that was it. It was the most relaxing part of the whole two-week camp.

“Is it scary?” Irene asked in the tiniest voice and Seulgi had to stop herself from making a weird sound because Irene was being adorable again. Yerim saw Seulgi’s split second face journey and shook her head. 

“No, it’s actually really nice to have some down time to yourself after two weeks of activities. I usually just nap as much as possible during solo camp.”

“What do we do for food? Do we have to for foraging?” 

“They’ll prepare a ration bag for us usually. Nothing fancy. A few packs of biscuits, an apple maybe and a packet of instant noodles for dinner. We’ll also get some matches and a candle to start a fire for the noodles. We’re each going to bring along a gallon bottle, too.” Seulgi beamed as she finished explaining the basics of solo camp and looked at her friends who were blinking blankly at her. “I-is there something on my face?”

They made a fuss about having to start a fire from scratch before they heard a voice from the neighbouring tent. “Can it, K2! Some of us are trying to sleep here!” It was Krystal. Yongsun quickly shushed them and they chuckled quietly among themselves.

They managed to fall asleep at one point because Yoona found them still huddled together when she went to wake them up for breakfast. It was an endearing sight, her members were sleeping as they sat leaning on one another like a well stacked domino pile. She didn’t have the heart to give them another heart attack after last night and chose to give Byul’s shoulder a shake. Once Yoona was sure that the girl was up and would wake the rest, she went off to help Taeyeon.

***

The journey back from the island to base camp was easier even though everyone was ready to collapse on their bed at any moment. Even the ever cheerful and energetic Seulgi was struggling to keep her eyes open that morning as she sluggishly paddled her way back with Irene, who wasn’t fairing any better herself. The storm had kept most of them awake for whole night and its effect was starting to show. 

Seulgi took a look around and saw that their friends were in almost the same situation as she was. They were making slow progress in their journey because everybody was exhausted from the lack of sleep and the sun was dancing mercilessly in the sky. That was, until Taeyeon suddenly cheered really loudly without warning.

“Come on, guys! Lunch is waiting for us! The mess hall is right there!!” She tried to motivate them. “It’s so close, we’re almost there. Don’t slow down now!” 

Everyone seemed to be slightly more motivated at the mention of food and started paddling with more purpose. With one last push, they finally reached shore. 

The girls quickly set to work despite their exhaustion to clean and put away their things. Kayaks and paddles needed to be rinsed and cleaned with fresh water, so did their tent sheets. The tent sheets were covered in dirt and mud courtesy of the rain the night before and needed to be cleaned before being used again for solo camp. 

After they put away the last of their things, the K2 practically got up and ran to the mess hall and quickly got ready to eat. They moved like clockwork in setting the table and distributing their food and for once, were perfectly still as they waited for Taeyeon to announce their moment of silence. 

“I’ve never seen them eat so well before.”

“The wonders of the water expedition, Yoong.” Taeyeon motioned for Yoona to follow her as she left the K2 alone to their lunch. “Let’s go, I’m hungry too.”

Taeyeon graciously gave them a couple of hours off that afternoon, telling them to gather at the boathouse again later around 4pm for their last water activity. The girls quickly thanked their instructor and raced up the steps to their dorm, each eager to wash away the salty sea water and sand that clung to their body and to rest afterwards. 

Seulgi showered in record time and flopped onto her bed with a contented sigh. The bed was a welcome change after lying on the cold, hard ground for the last two nights. Making herself comfortable, she quickly set an alarm on her watch and fell asleep almost instantly, completely ignoring whatever that was happening around her. The sounds of movement eventually disappeared and the K2 dorm fell silent as its occupant got their well deserved nap.

It wasn’t long before Seulgi felt herself being shaken violently and woke up squinting to see whoever it was. It was Joy and Yerim. Seulgi rolled her eyes and went back to sleep, but not before Joy pulled her up into a sitting position.

“What do you satans want?” Seulgi hissed, annoyed that her nap was interrupted and checked her watch because she was very sure that her alarm had not gone off yet. She was right. “We still have, like an hour before we need to be down by the boathouse.”

“That’s true but Irene went out for a walk.”

“Huh?” Seulgi leaned over to look at the bottom bunk and found it to be empty. “So? What are you two thinking about?”

“Here.” Joy placed a camera into Seulgi’s hands. “Go take a walk with her and take pictures or something. You haven’t taken out your camera yet and camp is ending after solo camp. Am I right? Go take pictures of her. She won’t mind, don’t worry.”

“Did you guys ransack my bag? And what makes you so sure she won’t?”

“Duh..because she likes you. And you like her, too.” Seulgi was about to protest but Yerim was not having any of it. “Zip it and just go. You can thank us later. Seungwan is out there keeping an eye on Irene’s whereabouts. Go ask her.”

“Alright, alright. Pushy satans.” Seulgi grumbled and got out of bed. She might have sounded annoyed but in all honesty, she was pretty excited about it. Photography was something she’s like to explore more and Seulgi had been wanting to photograph her favourite camp for a while now but hadn’t gotten the chance to. Besides, taking pictures of Irene didn’t sound like a bad idea since they might probably never meet again after camp concluded. From what she knew, Irene lived all the way across the country.

“She’s somewhere under the trees by the beach.”

“Got it. Thanks, Seungwan.” Seulgi quickly put on her shoes and took off. The rest of the K2 went out to the balcony to watch as soon as Seulgi left. 

***

Seulgi made her way down the steps and headed towards the beach. It was quiet that afternoon, as though everybody at camp had the afternoon off and were napping. It was not unusual but somewhat a rare sight for a camp in the middle of summer as there would be a few watches going about their activities around camp most of the time. She shrugged and took some shots of the empty campgrounds before continuing her search for Irene.

Seulgi found Irene sitting idly on the trunk of a fallen coconut tree, exactly where Seungwan had pointed to her earlier. Irene was playing a game by herself - throwing pebbles into a circle that she seemed to have drawn not too far away. The girl was pouting because the pebbles kept bouncing out of the circle everytime she tossed them. Seulgi brought her camera up to take a few photos and the shutter sounds startled Irene. Irene jumped and turned around quickly, her arm poised in the air to launch some pebbles at at the intruder. She rolled her eyes when she saw who it was.

“Stop doing that.”

“Sorry, it’s becoming a habit.” She smiled apologetically and Irene patted the spot next to her. Seulgi plopped herself onto the fallen tree trunk and watched Irene toss some more pebbles into the circle. “What are you going to do after camp ends?” She asked and Irene stopped for a bit to think.

“My family moves around a lot because of my dad’s work. We’re going to be moving again a few weeks after camp ends. We’re moving somewhere near my relatives’ place and I’ll be going to school with my cousin! I’m really excited about that.” Irene smiled brightly as she finished.

“Can I take your picture?” Seulgi blurted as Irene finished her sentence.

Irene, who was about to toss another pebble, stopped and stared blankly at Seulgi before shyly nodding. Seulgi mentally patted herself on the back before taking a few shots and asked if they could move spots. She swore she heard faint sounds of cheering when they got up to walk around campgrounds. Seulgi looked towards the direction of their dorm and was pretty sure she saw movements at their balcony. 

Unbeknownst to her, her friends had quickly ducked behind the railing when they spotted Seulgi’s movements.

“D’you think we’re busted?” Hyejin asked.

“I think we’re good. Hang on, I’m going to see if the coast is clear.” Seungwan volunteered. 

Slowly, she took a peek and announced that the coast was clear. All of them got back up and looked for the couple.

“Where did they go?!”

“There! By the boathouse!”

“I see them!”

“Aaaw man, the trees are blocking the view!”

“That’s because you’re short, Wheein. I can see just fine.”

“Shut it, Byul.”

***

“Why do you keep looking at our dorm, Seulgi?” Irene asked when she realised that Seulgi’s eyes kept shifting towards the hill.

“Nothing..just keeping an eye on some pesky satans.” She rolled her eyes and brought the camera up, ready for another shot. “Smile!”


	8. Raft Solo

 

Seulgi and Irene wandered aimlessly around campgrounds. Seulgi was having fun taking pictures of Irene and the scenery around them and retelling old camp stories whenever they passed by the spot where it happened in camps gone by. Irene, on the other hand, was more than happy to spend their rest time with Seulgi and listening to her stories. She found the girl’s love for the great outdoors to be absolutely adorable and she was enjoying how animated Seulgi got as she gestured back and forth in the middle of her stories.

“Hey, Seulgi..”

“Yeah?” Seulgi replied while trying to get a good angle of the gym hall.

“Tell me about yourself.”

Seulgi put her camera down and smiled at Irene. “Hi, my name is Seulgi. I like to run around a lot. In school I’m part of the tennis team with Seungwan, we play doubles together.”

“Yes, I’ve heard. You two are quite the combination - the best pair the school has seen in years.”

Seulgi looked at Irene curiously. How on earth did she know that? What did the two satans tell Irene behind her back? “When did Yerim even tell you all this? That sneaky spawn of Satan..” Seulgi grumbled.

Irene merely smiled and raised an  eyebrow cheekily at her while turning to walk back towards the boathouse.

“Come on, it’s almost time to meet up with Taeyeon and Yoona.” 

Seulgi shook her head and trailed behind Irene, still trying to figure out when did Yerim tell Irene stories from school. But then again, it wasn’t exactly a terrible thing anyway. At least, that was what Seulgi was hoping - that Yerim had not told her any embarrassing stories yet. Seulgi gave herself a shake and went to catch up with Irene after falling behind while being lost in her own head.

“Only you two?” Yoona asked while looking for the rest of their watch when Irene and Seulgi reached the boathouse. “Where’s everybody else?”

“Probably on their way down.” Irene looked up towards their dorm and squinted to spot any movements.

“We were walking around taking pictures earlier.” Seulgi brought up her camera and showed it to Yoona before she thought of something. “Do we still have time for pictures?”

Taeyeon nodded after checking the time and Seulgi beamed. Turning on her camera, she took pictures of Irene together with their instructor and CA. Taeyeon suggested that they try posing like models in high fashion and they cracked up at the pose she did. It didn’t take long for Yoona and Irene to join in while Seulgi tried her best to keep the camera steady - a huge effort considering how much she was laughing. The pictures turned out well and Taeyeon nodded with much satisfaction.

“Yaaah! These pictures are good! Seulgi, e-mail us those pictures when you get back home, okay?”

“Sure thing!”

“I’ll give you my e-mail address later, Seulgi.”

“Send them to me, too. Along with the others we took just now.” Irene added in that same tiny voice from the night before and Seulgi inhaled sharply. Irene had no business sounding so adorable while they were just standing around looking at pictures on her camera.

“Yah! What are you guys looking at?!” Joy bellowed and the four of them looked up from the camera at the same time to see that the rest of the watch had arrived, right on time.

“Seulgi, put the camera away please. It’s time for rafting.”

 

Seulgi set her camera in a waterproof bag that Taeyeon had brought with her and passed it around for the others to keep their wristwatches. Once everybody was ready, Taeyeon started the briefing for their activity that afternoon.

The K2 looked puzzled at the items set out in front of them after Taeyeon explained their mission for the activity - which was to build a simple raft using whatever was provided. They looked at the items curiously and Taeyeon could almost hear the gears in their brains moving as they tried to picture how would the raft would look like. They were given some rope, huge plastic pipes and four drums.

Byul nudged Seulgi while the rest tried to sort out their supplies and pitched ideas. “How long did it take for your watch to figure it out the first time you did this?”

“Uhm..ten minutes? Our instructor gave us some hints since we were only eleven at that time.” 

“Wow. Eleven-year olds building their own raft. That’s awesome!” Byul raised her hand and they high fived.

Yongsun noticed the two standing idly while the rest work and called them. “Guys? A little help?” 

Byul and Seulgi laughed awkwardly and went over to assess the situation. Seulgi saw that they had the right idea - they had already formed a square using the pipes and placed the drums at each corner. It was the most basic raft design and the one Seulgi saw most frequently during camp. 

“Seulgi, are we going it right?”

“Yeah. No worries.” Seulgi patted Seungwan’s back and pointed to the other unused pipes. “We can use two pipes for each side to make them stronger.”

Once they had the square frame ready, they lifted it and placed them onto the four drums. The frame was adjusted and ropes were looped around the drums to secure them against the frame. When they were done, each member was already huffing and panting from hauling the big objects from one spot to another. Taeyeon gave them her seal of approval and they lined up by their raft. Putting on their life jackets, they took a deep breath before lifting the raft and marched towards the beach.

“Alright! Ready?” Taeyeon appraised their raft one last time. “Seungwan. Irene. You two good to go?”

They gave Taeyeon a not-so-convincing nod and the instructor decided to take what she could get and told them to push their raft a little further into the water before climbing on. It was quite the education watching them trying to climb on the wobbly raft without losing their balance. So far, Wheein had already fallen back into the water twice and the others were not doing any better, either.

It took some time but all of them manage to get on their makeshift raft. Irene was the last to climb aboard since the raft would be at its most stable when everybody else was already sitting on it. With some help from Seulgi, Irene managed to pull herself up onto the floating piece of plastic and Yoona waded over to pass them some oars.

“Guys, your mission is to reach that same buoy over there and come back.”

“Okay!!” 

Yoona was about to blow the air horn but Taeyeon suddenly stopped her and pointed to the group that was making their way to the beach their raft. It was Mont Blanc and Taeyeon had an idea. She told them to sit tight and jogged towards Jessica. She seemed to have told Jessica something and the latter looked at Taeyeon smugly while crossing her arms.

“My watch is not going to lose. Right, team?”

“Yeah!” Mont Blanc chorused as they fist pumped and Taeyeon jumped at the sudden noise.

“Well mine isn’t either.” She made a face at Jessica and went back to her watch. “Okay. So. We’re having a race with Mont Blanc.”

“Why?” Hyejin asked.

“Because it’s always good to have some friendly competition.” Taeyeon explained. “Aaaand because my watch from the previous camp lost to Sica’s so I want to get even. Can you guys help me?”

“Hell yes!”

Both teams got into position and Yoona counted down to zero before blowing the air horn. 

And off they went, each watch trying their best to defend their instructors’ pride and apparently the losing team would be doing the winning team’s dishes later after dinner. Both watches hustled as neither one felt like doing extra chores after a tiring day. 

***

Seulgi handed Krystal a stack of dirty food trays after dinner with an apologetic smile. The latter waved it off and told Seulgi to just leave them by the sink.

“Amber will take care of those later. You go ahead.”

“Okay.” Seulgi stood awkwardly and rocked on the balls of her feet while she watched Krystal and the other Mont Blanc members wash their dirty dishes. “I feel bad about this.”

“Nah, it’s all good fun. I’ll beat your team next year. Just you wait.” Krystal confidently challenged.

Seulgi gave Krystal two thumbs up before running off to catch up with her watch who were already making their way to the gym hall. Taeyeon had told them to gather there earlier for their solo camp briefing. It was finally time for solo camp, Seulgi thought to herself excitedly.

The briefing was short and sweet since there was not going to be any group activities during solo camp. Taeyeon dismissed them early that night for them to rest and pack for the much anticipated solo camping trip, or at least, that was the case for Seulgi. She was pretty sure that Joy and Yerim were silently dreading it, Seungwan and Byul seemed quite interested while the others were reserving judgement until the activity had passed.

Irene was surprisingly calm about their upcoming camping trip, much to Seulgi’s delight, probably because Taeyeon mentioned that there wouldn’t be an obscenely huge distant between their tents - they would only be a few metres apart, five perhaps. While they would be able to see each other, they were still not allowed to talk to each other. It was a rule that few followed, Seulgi knew that from experience. Though their instructors might threaten to cut down their tents, they almost never did, the hassle of pitching the tent again was more than enough to keep some participants from interacting with others.

The watch set out for their solo camp campsites after lunch the next day. Unlike their previous expeditions where heavy and bulky equipment like their tent sheets and water containers were transported to the site, they had to carry everything with them for solo camp. Seulgi chuckled when her friends all sighed in relief when Taeyeon told them the campsite was only a 15-minute walk away from base camp.

The K2 formed a single line at the base of a little hill where the campsites were located. Site allocation went by quickly and smoothly as they trekked into the jungle and Taeyeon dropped them off one by one at marked locations along the way. Wheein was the first, followed by Hyejin and it ended with Seulgi near the top of the hill because Taeyeon felt that she could handle being in the last campsite, with nothing but vegetation behind her.

Seulgi got to work immediately after Taeyeon and Yoona said their goodbyes - taking out the rope they were given and pitched her tent as quickly as she could because it looked like it was going to rain. Irene’s campsite was within her peripheral vision, she could see that the latter was also hard at work, racing against the weather. Seulgi heard a squeak when the first telltale sign of lightning appeared and laughed.

“S-shut up, Seulgi!”

Seulgi turned to face Irene who was busy anchoring one of the tent’s flaps to the ground while biting her lips. Seulgi saw in her eyes that Irene, while she was slightly terrified of the thought of sitting through a thunderstorm alone in her tent, was not going to let some lightning slow her down. Smiling proudly at her, Seulgi went back to work in securing her own tent.

When the first droplets of rain fell, Seulgi gathered her things and scurried into her tent, patting herself on the back when she saw that everything was still dry. Arranging them in a corner, she sat in the middle of her tent and listened to rhythm of the falling rain. It was soothing and she found herself slowly getting sleepy. Seulgi finally understood why was it that some people looked up the sound clips of the rain to help them fall asleep. After assessing the wind’s direction and making sure that her tent would not be drenched like while on the island, Seulgi lied down and took a well deserved nap.

All was calm and peaceful that afternoon in the jungle until Seulgi woke up from her nap a couple of hours later and screamed.


	9. Summer Never Ends

 

“Can you keep it down?”

“Is this retribution for all those times I scared you?”

“Kinda..” Irene grinned.

Seulgi grumbled and sat up, stretching and groaning along the way because the slightly uneven ground made her back a little sore. She rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and scooted a bit, making space for Irene to sit comfortably. The said girl was huddled up in a tiny corner earlier, sitting on the little space that Seulgi did not occupy.

“How long have you been sitting there? Was the thunderstorm bad? I didn’t hear anything.”

“Long enough. You were sleeping like a log, I’m not surprised you didn’t.” Irene snorted. “It was pretty bad, kinda like the one a few days ago.”

“You poor soul. Come here.” Seulgi patted at the spot next to her with a smile. Irene didn’t need to be told twice and huddled up with Seulgi as the rain continued to pour outside.

They decided to play 20 questions while they waited for the rain to stop. Seulgi suggested to play rock-paper-scissors - the winner would get to ask questions, just to make things a little more fun and Irene was game for it. What began as a plan to get to know Irene better failed miserably when Seulgi realised that she was on a losing streak.

“Hah! I win again!” Irene cheered for the tenth time while Seulgi sighed at her luck. “What kind of job do you want to have when you grow up?”

“Not a desk job, that’s for sure!” Seulgi answered almost immediately, startling Irene. “Sorry. My brother is working a desk job now and he’s just always so miserable. I don’t want to end up like that. All that overtime. He doesn’t even have time to finish his video games now. That’s terrible!”

Irene burst laughing at Seulgi, whose face was aghast as she recalled her brother’s working life. “You play video games-”

Seulgi held up a hand to stop Irene from continuing. “Next round!”

“Alright. Rock, paper, scissors!”

“I WIN!”

“Shoot.”

“Will I see you again next summer?”

There was a moment of silence and Seulgi tried not to be too disappointed. It was nothing new, there were friends that she never saw again after camp ended. For some of them, camp was a one time thing - once was more than enough even though they claimed to have enjoyed themselves and promised to be back the following year. Seulgi braced herself for Irene’s answer.

“You’ll see me around.” Seulgi felt Irene nudge her shoulder with her own and was greeted by a mischievous grin and a thumbs up. “It’ll be like summer never ended.”

She sighed, relieved by how confident Irene sounded. “So we have a deal? I’ll see you here next summer?”

“You got yourself a deal, Kang.” Irene held out her hand and they shook on it.

Conversations came to a stop naturally and they sat in comfortable silence, listening to the sound of rain and bugs outside. Seulgi felt Irene leaned on her shoulder, murmuring something about wanting to sleep. Seulgi straightened her posture and patted Irene’s head, telling her to sleep and she would wake her up when it was time to cook dinner. That was all it took for Irene to finally doze off. Seulgi quickly set an alarm on her wristwatch and fell asleep, too, her head eventually resting on Irene’s.

***

Seulgi looked around and frowned when she saw that everything was wet from the rain. She was trying to find some sticks to get a fire going before the sun went down. Cooking dinner in the dark was not ideal so she wanted to get things done quickly. Her second nap delayed things a little and while she did not regret it, she was determined to make up for lost time. Gathering some twigs and leaves, she headed back to her tent where Irene had gathered some flat stones for them to use as a makeshift stove.

Irene went back to her tent briefly to get her mess tin and rations bag and returned to Seulgi’s tent so that they could cook dinner together. Though it was against the rules but Seulgi figured that they would be fine, her campsite and Irene’s were actually in an isolated spot further up the hill compared to everybody elses’. Taeyeon and Yoona would probably not be sneaking around the bushes behind them, there didn’t seem to be a hiking path back there.

It took a while but Seulgi managed to get a fire started and cooked Irene’s noodles first. While the latter protested, saying that the chef of the day should eat first, Seulgi insisted and there was little Irene could do to change her mind.

“Why do these noodles taste so good?” Irene asked as she slurped the last of her noodles while Seulgi grinned proudly. “I mean, these are just regular noodles we see in stores everyday.”

“It’s all in the water. My mom taught me that less water wouldn’t dilute the seasoning that much so it’ll taste better.” Seulgi paused to drink some soup from her mess tin. “And also, it was raining the whole afternoon so a nice bowl of soup really hits the spot.”

“Right on!” Irene was about to take a sip of her soup when a voice interrupted.

“Hey, lovebirds! Are you guys done eating yet?”

Seulgi blushed at the word ‘lovebirds’ and Irene made a face when she recognised who it was.

Yerim and Joy eventually came into view as they hiked up the slope to get to Seulgi and Irene’s campsites. When they saw that Irene’s tent was empty, Yerim figured that the only other place on the hill that Irene would be was at Seulgi’s tent. Because where else would Irene go during a thunderstorm if not to the closest source of warmth that was Seulgi.

Irene rolled her eyes at Yerim as she finished explaining her theories and assumptions on her whereabouts. “Would you like a medal?”

“That would be nice but not necessary, thank you.”

Joy sat down beside Seulgi and took her mess tin from her hands, helping herself to the leftover soup. Handing the empty mess tin back to its owner with a satisfied burp, Joy grinned while Seulgi could only shake her head. The four of them gathered by the dying fire to warm themselves as the temperature in the jungle began to drop, the sun had started to set.

Seungwan joined them a while later, followed by Byul and soon the entire watch was gathered at Seulgi’s campsite, unbothered by the fact that they might be caught breaking the rules of solo camp red handed by their instructor and CA. Seulgi got up to look for more twigs to burn since it didn’t seem like it was going to rain anytime soon and sitting around a small fire sounded more appealing than sitting around in the cold, dark jungle.

She returned to her seat beside Irene once she was done with the fire. The group were complaining that the afternoon was a little dull without the company of their friends and the absence of activities left them feeling lost, not knowing what to do to kill time. Wheein nudged Hyejin smiling knowingly when they spotted Irene leaning on Seulgi the whole time. Yerim and Joy seemed to have caught wind, too, and were very smug about it. It was about time after all. It took them almost two weeks of constant pushing. They weren’t sure if a confession had happened but either way,it was good progress.

“What are you guys gonna do for the rest of summer?”

“The four of us are trying to start a band.” Yongsun proudly announced while gesturing Byul, Wheein, Hyejin and herself.

“A band?”

“More like a vocal group, actually. We do covers for now but someday, you guys are gonna see our names in the headlines!” Byul added.

“Not for anything illegal, I hope.” Seungwan mumbled and the watch burst laughing. “Don’t forget us once you guys are rich and famous!”

“We’ll send you guys VIP passes to our gigs, don’t worry.”

“Right on!” Seungwan high fived Byul and finger gunned.

They stayed at Seulgi’s campsite until it started to drizzle a few hours later. All of them got up and made a run for it as fast as they could back to their own tent because there was no way all of them could fit in Seulgi’s solo tent. Seulgi was a bit reluctant to see Irene leave as well but it could not be helped, she supposed. Irene would have to return to her tent eventually before Yoona picked them up the next morning.

The night fell silent again once everybody left. Seulgi lied down in her tent, listening to the sounds of cicadas that she had gotten used to during camp and the sound of rain falling. It was only drizzling so Seulgi wasn’t that worried about her friends. She could already hear Yerim’s voice asking if she was worried about everybody or just Irene. Sighing, she turned to her side to find a comfortable spot and dozed off.

That was until a scream pierced through the night and Seulgi heard footsteps coming towards her. It didn’t take long before she found out who it was, Irene practically came diving into her tent and then peeped out of it to see who was behind her. Seulgi stared at her blankly, confused by the scenario.

“Irene?”

“I heard some weird noises outside my tent so I went outside to check it out.” Irene explained in between breaths.

“Uhm..okay?”

“And then I saw this weird shadow thing. It was really creepy.”

“Ah yes I heard you scream. You okay?”

“Yeah. I’m okay. I think. Just..uhm..let me catch my breath.”

Seulgi gave her a few moments to calm down from the adrenaline. She had heard stories like such from previous camps but none of her past watchmates had ever encountered any. Seulgi definitely had never seen any weird shadows looming around the jungle at night. But it was pretty suspicious that it was Irene, of all people, who saw it. She had a hunch that either one of their friends were behind it but she wasn’t going to complain if it meant being able to spend a little bit more time with Irene before camp ended the day after tomorrow.

They sat in the dark tent for a while before Seulgi felt Irene leaned on her again, light snores confirming her suspicions that Irene had fallen asleep after the mild scare earlier. She smiled to herself and rested her head gently on Irene’s before falling asleep herself.

Seulgi woke up the next morning to the sound of what seemed to be a camera’s shutter clicking. Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, she squinted to see who it was and her eyes widened when she saw Yoona grinning at them from behind her digital camera.

“You two are too cute.” Yoona teased and Seulgi blushed. “Don’t worry. I won’t tell Taeyeon about this. Wake Irene and pack up. I’ll come pick you guys up in an hour.”

Yoona winked and left them be. Irene woke up after a few gentle shakes, looking exactly like a cat as she stretched and whined when her body protested.

“Why do you sound like a grandma? I thought we were the same age?.” Seulgi teased, earning herself a glare and a shove as Irene rolled her eyes comically before returning to her own tent.

***

“We saw you..” Yerim said in a sing song manner when they were all gathered at the foot of the hill, ready to head back to base camp. Joy smirked knowingly at what Yerim was implying.

“Saw me?”

“Doing the ‘walk of shame’ just now, so to speak.”

“Yah!” Irene gave Yerim a shove, too, and blushed. “Nothing happened and you know it. Get your head out of the gutter.”

“Aren’t you’re being a little too defensive? It’s suspicious.”

“Oh my god, you spawn of Satan!” Irene grabbed Yerim into a headlock and whispered in her ear. “Did you think that I didn’t know it was you and Joy last night. Did you think I wouldn’t recognise that same trick?”

Yerim scoffed as she struggled to break free from Irene’s surprisingly strong grip while Joy snickered. The rest of the K2 were blissfully unaware of what the trio were doing at the back while Taeyeon was giving them a short congratulatory speech on surviving solo camp.

“You say that but we got you good last night.”

“You did.” Irene released Yerim with a sigh and patted her head. “Thanks though..it was nice getting to spend a little bit more time with Seulgi.”

“You’re welcome. You two are progressing so slowly it’s getting on our nerves.”

“Our?!” Irene raised her voice slightly and it caught Taeyeon’s attention.

“Irene, do you have something you would like to share with the group?” Their instructor asked curiously.

“Oh..no. I’m sorry. Please continue.” Irene bowed slightly.

Yoona returned from her rounds up the hill, reporting to Taeyeon that all campsites were cleared out and nothing was left behind. Satisfied with her CA’s efforts, Taeyeon told the watch to get into a single file and prepare to depart.

Seulgi was about to pick up her backpack when she felt something sticky and gooey being smeared onto the back of her neck. Jumping slightly, she reached for her neck and turned around to see Irene staring at her with one eyebrow raised. Seulgi brought her hand in front of her face to examine it and Irene raised her brow even more.

“It’s sunscreen. The back of your neck looks pretty sunburnt.” She said as she handed the tube of sunscreen to Seulgi. “Put some more on.”

“It’s fine, it’s a short walk back to base camp.”

“But still!” Irene frowned and Seulgi quickly took the tube from her because it looked like Irene was two seconds away from pouting, something Seulgi was quite sure she couldn’t handle at that moment.

“Th-thanks.”

  
***

The walk back to base camp was surprisingly quiet by their standards. The only other time Seulgi remembered them being that quiet was during the very first day before they were all introduced. She had a good view of everybody from the back to the line and saw that everyone in the K2 were walking with heavy steps, as though to delay the inevitable. She looked behind at Yoona and their CA gave patted her head, knowing very well what everyone was feeling at that moment.

Their return to base camp marked the end of their activities for the summer, all there was left to do was the barbeque dinner party later that was organised at the end of every camp. It was a treat to both the participants and the staff members, to congratulate them on a job well done in surviving summer camp.

Taeyeon had sent them back up to their dorm to unpack after lunch and told them to bring down whatever items that were loaned to them during the course of camp. They were almost reluctant to return all the equipment to the storage room because it would mean that camp was over. It was unavoidable. Once they finished unpacking, the K2 brought their standard issue backpacks down to storage and did their final checks. Seulgi watched with a heavy heart as Taeyeon locked the door for good that summer.

“Till next camp.” their instructor softly patted the door before turning around to see that her members were pouting and some looked like they might actually cry. “Aaaw you babies, get in here!” She opened her arms and all nine of them rushed in for a group hug. “Yoong, get in here, too!” Yoona happily joined in the hug, too.

“Aigoo..why are you guys like this all of a sudden? Where did my tough cookies go?” Taeyeon cooed as Yerim started tearing up. “Come on, you guys. We still need to go help with the barbeque’s set up.”

***

Benches were arranged out on the field in front of the gym hall for the barbeque. Seulgi and the rest of the participants had spent the remainder of the afternoon carrying them from the mess hall one by one and putting them into place as directed by Seohyun. They were laid out in a circle with a campfire in the middle - not for grilling, however. All the grilling would be taken care off by the kitchen staff.

The party was in full swing and the weather was perfect that night - slightly windy and not a rain cloud in sight. The instructors and CAs were gathered in a corner, no doubt trading stories of whatever shenanigans their watch got into in the last two weeks. Taeyeon was throwing her head back laughing at something Sooyoung was saying. The participants, on the other hand, were scattered around area - gathered in their own cliques. The K2 was no exception as they were split into little groups and chatted amongst themselves.

Seulgi looked around and sat herself down on one of the empty benches with a plate of food. She was about to dig in when she saw Irene approaching from the corner of her eyes and patted to the spot beside her. The said girl beamed and trotted towards Seulgi’s bench.

“What happens if it rains?”

“Taeyeon said the sky will be clear tonight so we probably don’t have to worry about that.” Seulgi replied and took a bite off one of the chicken wings on her plate. “If the forecast says it’ll rain then we’ll have it in the gym hall.”

“Don’t talk with your mouth full.”

“Sorry, bad habit.”

They sat in silence while the everybody else seemed to be running around, either taking pictures or looking for food. Seulgi swallowed the last bit of her food and stared at the crackling fire.

“Hey, Irene?”

“Yes?”

“I’m glad to have met you this summer. I really like you.”

Seulgi knew she was blushing, her face felt warm and it wasn’t from the campfire in front of them. She felt as though an eternity had passed because Irene wasn’t saying anything, but in actual fact it had only been two seconds or so.

“I really like you, too. And I think you already know that.”

Seulgi beamed. It took all of her willpower not to jump and cheer, a then-humongous feat for her.

“Bless.” Seulgi replied with a surprisingly steady voice and Irene burst laughing.

“You look so funny right now! What is that face?!”

“That’s the face Seulgi makes whenever she’s really happy about something but is trying not to show.” Seungwan quipped. “What are you so happy about, Kang Seulgi?”

“Nothing. Shoo, go away.”

Seungwan shrugged and left to look for the two satans.

“Really happy, huh?”

“You can’t blame me.”

“I suppose not.” Irene smiled and leaned on Seulgi, resting her head on the latter’s shoulder like second nature.

“Where do we go from here?”

“Hmm? We have time. Don’t worry.”

Time? Seulgi was trying to figure out what Irene meant by it. Camp was ending the next day, they would all go back home and probably not meet until next summer. They _could_ try and visit each other but how were they going to justify to their parents about taking so many trips across the country throughout the year? It would worry them and it would cost a lot, too.

While Seulgi was cracking her head thinking, Irene nonchalantly got up and announced that she was going to get more food. “I’ll be right back, Seulgi. And stop worrying. We have time.”

Irene winked. And off she went.

***

Camp’s graduation ceremony was a simple affair. Participants sat in their respective watches and step forward to receive their certificates of completion from the camp’s directors. Parents and guardians were also present, ready to bring their children home after the ceremony ended.

Once the ceremony was over, Yerim was the first one to spot her parents and ran over for hugs. Seulgi and the rest watched as Yerim brought her parents over, no doubt wanting to introduce them to her new friends and their instructor and CA.

What everyone was not expecting was that Yerim’s mother pulled Irene into a hug once she was close enough.

“Aigoo, Juhyun-ah. You get prettier and prettier each time we see you.”

“Auntie, that’s not true and you know it.” She retorted playfully and greeted Yerim’s father. “Hi, Uncle Kim. Long time no see.”

He gave her a nod and left to load Yerim and Irene’s luggage into the car.

While all of that was happening, the rest of the K2 was confused over what had happened.

“You two know each other?” Seungwan was the first to come to her senses.

“We’re cousins.” Yerim stated matter-of-factly. “She’ll be transferring to our school when the new term starts in fall.”

“WHAT???” Almost everybody asked incredulously.

“And you two didn’t bother telling us that detail?”

“Such a troll.” Yoona shook her head before giving Yerim a thumbs up. “I approve.”

Yerim saluted. “We thought it’d be fun to pretend and not tell you guys until the end of camp.”

While everybody was making a fuss, one person was standing motionless among the rowdy group, still processing the new bit of information.

“Seulgi, are you okay?” Irene waved her hand in front of Seulgi’s face and she snapped out of it.

“Is this why you said ‘we have time’?” Realisation hit her and Seulgi grinned.

“Yep!” Irene started to grin, too. “I’m sorry, I wanted to tell you but Yerim said to wait until today.”

Seulgi immediately glared at Yerim and Irene laughed.

“I look forward to getting to know you better, Seulgi.” Irene took a step closer and stood face to face with Seulgi, causing the latter to blush because Irene was looking at her with those doe eyes. Honestly, Seulgi was amazed she didn’t just pass out on the spot and she was pretty sure that the entire watch, Taeyeon and Yoona included, were watching them the whole time.

Not caring about the onlookers, Seulgi took a deep breath and with one swift motion, leaned down and kissed Irene’s cheek.

\---

“Hi, miss. Come here often?”

Seulgi grinned at the familiar question and looked up from her phone. Her grin grew when she saw Irene grinning back at her, eyebrows dancing with glee. “I do actually. With my girlfriend.”

“I bet you two are so cute together.”

“Not gonna lie, we are pretty cute.” Seulgi replied smugly and earned herself a shove for being shameless.

“Idiot.”

“Your idiot.”

“Unfortunately.” Irene rolled her eyes. “ Let’s go, Seulgi. We’re going to be late for the movie!”

“And whose fault is it?” Seulgi teased as she gathered her things.

“My boss’, that’s who.” Irene tugged on Seulgi’s arm. “Let’s go get dinner first. I’m hungry.”

“Yes, dear.” Seulgi hardly had time to grab all her things before Irene dragged her out of the cafe.

\---

 

END


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